archive - pkelite archive only, please.
disclaimer: blah, blah, blabetty blah blah blah, don't sue me.
constructive critisism is well recieved, non-constructive critisism will be ignored. thank you.
Rescue.
Tom opened his eyes slowly, forcing himself to examine his surroundings.
Perhaps if he examined them often enough he could find an escape route. Any escape route. At this point, even death would be acceptable.
Everything was as it always was. The workbench with its varying instruments of torture arrayed neatly in groups by function; all of them white or pale grey in color. The rest of the room was empty, glowing walls. What he could see of it, anyway. There was probably an unlocked, electric purple door behind him somewhere.
Tom shifted in what he knew was a useless attempt to ease cramped muscles. He strugglrd against his restraits, leaning as far as possible from the energy conduit he was bound to. He revelled in the circulation of cool air down his back even through the pain of extending further some already over-extended muscles.
He turned his head to a narrow tube which looked so like the rest of his surroundings that he wouldn't have been able to find it if he hadn't been shown. Tom sucked a mouthful of tepid water out of it, swallowing gratefully.
The conduit he was tied to was hot. Not enough to burn, but enough to make him constantly uncomfortable. And he was always sweating.
To keep him from dehydrating, his captors provided him with a constant source of water. Occasionally, and without warning, the kind souls added salt, to keep him from running low on that vital mineral.
He shifted again, wincing away from the thin, sheer cloth draped over him. Everything hurt. Even smiling although he hadn't done that for a while.. He vaguely realized that his seratonin levels must be dropping. Not that it mattered.
Tom hadn't seen his interrogator in a long time. He wasn't sure how long, since he no longer had any frame of reference, but he suspected that they were trying sensory deprivation where standard torture hadn't worked. Come to think of it, sensory deprivation was standard torture, wasn't it?
Ha! well, this wouldn't work, either.
What to do, though? Concentrate on his friends. Tom closed his eyes, constructing in his mind a perfect image of Harry. Harry first, of course. Where would he be without his best friend/companion/lover? Harry was everything he'd ever wanted and more.
He modulated the image a bit. Harry... amused. Beautifully slanted brown eyes crinkling up at the corners, head down and eyes rolled up to look at you through a curtain of tousled hair; mouth quirked up into a grin.
Or... annoyed. He was beautiful even when he was aggravated. That small line between perfectly shaped eyebrows, nostrils flared, lips pressed together.
Lips.... Soft and full and so very, wonderfully responsive...
Tom killed that line of thought before his own responses became apparent. Think of something else, Tom. Someone else. Someone you're not in love with.
Chakotay. Strong and gentle and commanding. And Confident. Everything Tom wanted to be.
He shaped the commander's features carefully. Not as easy as Harry's, this face. He hadn't studied it so closely, so intimately.
Short hair, tribal tattoo obscuring part of the broad forehead, curling around the eye. Deep-set brown eyes. Strong nose, jaw set just too far forward, and perfect lips. Tom knew women who would give anything to have lips like that.
Who next? Tuvok. That look he got when he knew Tom was baiting him...
Tom had constructed the high forehead and buzzed hair when a tiny, dark-haired beauty materialized out of thin air. Very thin air. They were lowering the oxygen content again.
He began taking deep breaths, hoping this would stave off the inevitable muscle aches as his body tried to compensate for the decreased level of oxygen. At least for a few moments longer.
"I have been studying your physiology. Nerve responses, muscle groupings. A fascinating design."
"Thanks." Tom said dryly. He tried not to look too closely at her. She seemed larger than life, somehow, and he was afraid he might tell her anything she wanted to know just so she wouldn't leave him alone again.
His torturer ignored the comment, picking up and activating a long, narrow wand from the bench.
She touched the tail end of it carefully, then extended it until it touched his inner thigh through the cloth garment draped over him. Tom clenched his teeth against a scream, emitting a strangled grunt instead.
This was a familiar routine. She tried the pain wand on different muscles, and he refused to scream. Now she would begin asking him questions.
"What is Voyager's purpose here?" she asked calmly.
"We don't have a purpose here, we're just passing through." Tom replied breathlessly.
"Then why have they remained so long in our space?"
Tom stared at her incredulously. "They're looking for me! How many times do we have to go through this?"
His captor frowned, just slightly. "Until we get the appropriate responses from you," She stated. She regarded Tom thoughtfully, slapping the middle of the pain wand against the palm of her hand. "This session will be continued at a later date," she said finally. The woman set the wand down in its position, and quickly exited.
Tom stared at the space she had so recently occupied. He could still see the afterimages where her raven tresses had contrasted with the stark white of the walls.
He waited a long moment, took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly as oxygen filtered into the room more freely .
Tom closed his eyes and began again. High forehead and shorn hair...
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Report, Tuvok," Janeway ordered, swiveling in her chair to face her security chief.
Tuvok responded promptly, tapping a few buttons as a small section of the screen lit up. "Ensign Catalani has returned to the ship, Captain. He has traced the rumors of 'enemy agents' to one of the smallest settlements in the area. However, the Ensign believed the risk of discovery in such a small community to be too great to infiltrate it."
"Can we scan that area?" Chakotay asked.
"Even the individual homes on this planet have their own shielding," Harry replied tightly. "I could modify the sensors to coompensate, but not without letting them know they're being scanned."
"In that event, they may relocate Ensign Paris," Tuvok volunteered.
"How long would it take to modify our sensors?" Janeway asked, glancing at Kim.
"A few hours, captain. I can modify my console to run with the new parameters before the team leaves," Harry responded.
"B'Elanna can do that. We'll try and avoid scanning them until we have to. We know he's in this region, let's need to keep our search parameters as small as possible," Janeway stated. She tapped her commbadge. "Ensign Catalani, please report to briefing room one. If we're going to get my helmsman out, gentlemen, I want to know as much about this area as possible."
"Captain, I'd like to be on the team that goes in," Harry said. He looked tired, and his voice was rough with fatigue. Janeway had ordered him to bed more than once in the last few weeks, but she suspected he wasn't sleeping well anyway.
"Ensign Kim, you are in no condition to participate in what may become an extended mission," Tuvok said severely.
"I can do this, Captain. You're going to need someone along to interface with the alien technology, anyway, and I--" Harry began urgently.
"Captain, if I may?" the Doctor offered. Janeway nodded, and he continued. "If Ensign Paris has been physically and psychologically abused for the last seven weeks, and I think we can assume that this is the case, then we may have difficulty getting him to respond to our presence. Aside from the physical injuries he will have sustained, victims of torture often build up very effective psychological barriers between themselves and their captors. It may take a few minutes before Mr. Paris even recognizes us as friends. Given the intimate nature of Ensign Kim's relationship to Mr. Paris, his being there may help alleviate the problem."
Janeway frowned. "All right, gentlemen." She rose, leaning on the table in front of Harry. "As soon as this briefing is over, you will return to your quarters, and sleep. Then, you will eat. Because if you are not in damn near perfect condition when I am ready to send this team out, you are not going. Is that clear, Ensign?"
"Yes, Captain," Harry replied, shoulders slumping in relief. He straightened immediately when Janeway gave him a dubious look.
"Ensign Catalani," Janeway addressed the short, stocky man entering the room.
"Reporting as ordered, Captain," Catalani replied, settling into a stance just short of attention.
"I realize that mucht of this information is in your report," Janeway observed, tapping a data padd on the table in front of her," But I'd like to hear it from you. And there are a few questions I need answered as well."
"Yes, sir?" Catalani asked.
Janeway reseated herself, leaning back in her chair. "These 'unidentified energy spikes' that you picked up - what do you think they are?"
"Well, Sir, there were only five during the week that i was down there, so i can't be sure, but every time i detected one, it was accompanied by an influx of 'Custodians'. I could be wrong, sir," he repeated, glancing at Tuvok, " but i think they may have known there were unauthorized personnel in the settlement."
"It may simply have been a routine search of the premesis," Tuvok said.
"It could have been, sir, but then why so many custodians in my area? i asked around, they didn't appear everywhere. "
"You said the defenses for each settlement differed. Surely there are shared elements." Janeway interrupted, cutting off that area of questioning. She didn't care why, she only wanted to know what they were up against.
"Yes, sir," Catalani replied. He moved around to point at the screen over the captain's shoulder. "You can see that they're arranged in a sort of star shape. The number of arms on the star differs according to how large the settlement is, and what it's used for. This city has eight points. "Every building has its own shield, and there's another shield over the entire settlement. At the inside point of every arm is a primitive computerized sentry. Every twenty meters across the arms, there's a volunteer soldier standing guard, and at the outside points there's a small military encampment. The size depends on what it is they're guarding.
"You can see that the inside of the star is more or less circular. The outside ring of buildings are homes and public offices. The custodians, which are a sort of planetary police force, are bunked here with most of thier weapons. The center is usually occupied by whatever is most important to the town. If it's a trader's town, there's a market inside; in the capital settlement, that's where the palace is."
"Catalani took a deep breath. "Since this seems to be primarily a military settlement, i would assume this is where they're keeping the prisoner, Sir." He glanced at Tuvok, who raised one austere eyebrow at him.
"Any idea why they kidnapped Tom?" Janeway asked.
Catalani hesitated. "I believe they think we're a threat," he said carefully. "As near as i can tell, their leader is a certifiable nutcase; He thinks everyone is out to get him. It seems to have been like that for the last few generations, at least. Aside from a fanatical devotion to this guy, though, the rest of the Mareians seem to be reasonable enough.
"If they believe us to be a threat, why are they allowing us to orbit their planet?" Tuvok inquired.
"I don't know, sir," Catalani replied soberly.
"Gentlemen, Let's get our pilot back. We can worry about the why's and wherefore's later. Tuvok, put together a plan. You, Harry and the Doctor. Ensign, you'll be along for the ride," Janeway added, pointing at Catalani. She rose. "Dismissed. Harry, go home and get some sleep."
"Aye, Captain", Harry replied, rising slowly. He followed the others out of the room.
Harry headed for his quarters via a circuitous route that would get him there as slowly as possible. He'd been having horrific nightmares lately, and wasn't looking forward to following captain's orders.
Despite his intentions, the ensign reached the door to his quarters sooner than he was really prepared to. He stood there a long moment, just staring at the opening, then reversed course, heading down the corridor to his lover's door.
He keyed in Tom's access code, entering the room for the first time in a couple of weeks.
Harry wandered around the room for a bit just touching things. His clarinet, which he hadn't practiced in over a month, a holo image of Tom and him on shore leave at a resort on Akan IV.
The silk shirt he had given Tom for his birthday, carelessly draped over the arm of a chair.
He stopped in front of the bed, and slowly stripped down to his shorts. He ran a hand through thick black hair, and gently reached down to touch the still-rumpled silk sheets. He'd been working that last night before leave, and Tom had slept alone. Harry climbed in, drawing the sheets up over his head until he was cocooned in a little bubble of warmth. Harry closed his eyes, hoping that being in Tom's bed would somehow make the nightmares go away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaia sat staring at the Inquisitor while he repeated the same meaningless reassurances he offered every time she brought her doubts to his attention.
"If Voyager is not a threat, why have they remained in orbit for so long without contacting us appropriately?" he asked.
It occurred to Kaia that "appropriately" meant they should be following protocols they were probably unaware of.
"There are many accounts of Voyager attacking and destroying other vessels," he added.
Kaia wondered when their Emporer had begun to rely on reports from Kazon.
"They have even destroyed Borg vessels! Surely you see that this constitutes a threat to us?" he asked gently.
"The Borg are everyone's enemy, Sir. I do not understand why helping to eliminate one threat makes Voyager another. The enemy of my enemy...?" she replied, unable to keep quiet about this particular idiocy.
"Is my ally," he finished soothingly. "I know. But Voyager is dangerous. His Eminence feels sure that they are only biding their time until we are at our weakest before they attack."
'And meanwhile, they are giving us ample time to prepare for this supposed attack,' Kaia thought rebelliously. She shook her head.
"We will get no information from this hostage, Sir. If i have not extracted it in so long a period of time, he will not break before he dies." "Your Emporer requires tactical information, Kaia. You will do whatever is necessary," The Inquisitor replied sternly.
Kaia sighed. "Yes, Inquisitor," She agreed, "I will do what is necessary." She rose. "I will return to my duties now, if i may."
"Of course," he said graciously. He rose, holding open the door as she passed through it. She allowed herself the consummate rudeness of not thanking him, and headed for her chambers. She needed some time to think before she returned to the prisoner.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaia wasn't sure what was wrong with the inquisitor, but she rather suspected that the Emporer was, perhaps . . . unwell.
According to her predecessor, every Emporer for the past several generations had been . . . unwell.
It would seem the time had come to administer some medication.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry stared up at the ceiling, sweat cooling on his body until he began to shiver. He stared toward the dark ceiling until his heart stopped racing, then rose on shaky legs and stepped into the bathroom to shower.
Harry leaned his head on crossed wrists, forearms braced against the shower wall. Water flowed over his back as images from his nightmares floated through his mind. Tom, emaciated, scarred and covered in sores and abrasions; or lying on an alien operating table while some alien scientist studied his internal organs. He put that last down to too many hours spent in holo simulations with Tom, and shook his head violently, trying to clear it.
Harry shoved the images out of his mind, stepping out of the shower and wrapping a robe around him while he looked for something clean to wear. He knew he had clothes here, somewhere... Harry scrubbed savagely at the tears tracking down his face. Tom was such a slob. Oh. He found a slightly rumpled uniform at the bottom of the closet, and quickly put it on. He washed his face again, and left, casting a look behind him.
The quarters looked more like his, now, than they did Tom's.
Harry was headed for the mess hall when Janeway's voice sounded over his comm badge. "Ensign Kim, report to transporter room one."
"Kim here. Acknowledged." Kim reversed course, almost running toward the transporter room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~