Son of Voyager

Part 1: The Awakening >> Chapter 3

"Kim, I'm just curious about something." Paris said nervously as they walked down the hall.

"What would that be?" Kim asked without looking at Paris.

"Vorik seems very... free... emotionally. I was just wondering if you're really as tightly controlled as you're acting?" Paris asked curiously.

Kim was silent as she walked into what appeared to be a control room.

As soon as the door shut, she pushed Paris against the wall and with one fast pull, opened his lab coat, revealing his tanned, naked body.

"Maybe not." She said in a breathy whisper.

"Kim?" Paris said in surprise.

"Did you know Harry Kim always wanted to do this to Tom Paris?" Kim asked as she nuzzled Paris' neck.

"Um, no. Didn't have a clue." Paris said as Kim began to nibble his ear lobe.

"Looks like you want this too." Kim said as she let her hand drift down to his rapidly growing erection.

"Uh huh." Paris said, since the blood that operated the speech center of his brain seemed to be rushing elsewhere.

"Want you. Now." Kim said as she opened her own lab coat and rubbed her naked body against Paris.

"Uh huh." Paris said, and felt quite proud for having done that much.

Kim directed his erect shaft to her mons and impaled herself on him with surprising force.

"Umpf." Paris gasped at the unexpected sensation, then instinct took over as he began to thrust, matching Kim's furious pace.

Paris' pace began to quicken as he reveled in the glorious feeling of thrusting into tight velvet.

"Come on, come on." Kim begged as she increased the pace even more.

This proved to be his undoing, and he reached his climax, she achieved her own. She curled one leg behind him and forced him deeper with each thrust of his completion. Holding him in time with the ebb and flow of her orgasm.

One perfect moment.

"That one's for Harry." Kim whispered into Paris' ear as she eased away from his body.

"How about one for you now?" Paris asked with a smile.

"No, thanks. I just had to know what it would be like to be with you. I had some incredibly vivid fantasies of what Harry Kim wanted to do with Tom Paris and I just had to know..." Kim said as she started to fasten her lab coat.

"You're bleeding." Paris said when he noticed the blood on her thighs.

"We're all virgins... or we were. Don't worry about it. I considered that when I planned this." Kim said as she finished fastening the lab coat.

"You planned it?" Paris asked in confusion.

"I didn't know that you'd follow me back here, but I was sure that we'd be alone sometime. If I didn't have you, those fantasies would have driven me to distraction. Now I can maintain my focus on my duties. It's perfectly logical." Kim said with her Vulcan attitude firmly in place.

"If you say so." Paris said hesitantly as he fastened his own lab coat.

"The lexicon is nearly thirty percent complete. It should be complete by morning." Kim said, looking at a display.

"I... I guess I'll let you get back to work. I'll send you help with the comm badges as soon as people come available." Paris said unsurely as he walked toward the door.

"Yes sir." She said, completely focused on her work as Paris left the room.

* * * * *

"Was there a problem?" Bey asked with concern.

"No... It was... nothing." Paris said as he tried to shake the random thoughts out of his head.

"We've found crew quarters. It looks like they had a staff of twelve. Someone's going to have to double up." Chell said seriously.

"No problem... I'm willing to double. Would you like to double with me Bey?" Paris asked with a smile.

"Really? I mean, yeah... sure." Bey said in a stunned voice.

"I bet Wildman and Nicoletti will want to double... Just make a sign up sheet and let people work it out themselves. It'll just be good to have a shower and a bed." Paris said tiredly.

"And clothes." Chell said.

"Really?" Paris asked with surprise.

"Yes, they're uniforms, but there's a pretty good stock of them in the storeroom. I think we'll have all the sizes we'll need." Chell said happily.

"That's great." Paris said as Geron walked into the room.

"How goes the search Geron?" Paris asked hopefully.

"Gerry, and these must have been some peace loving people because I haven't found a single weapon on the station." Gerry said in frustration.

"Then we're going to have to get creative. It would be naive to think that we'll be left alone here. We need to be prepared to defend ourselves if someone drops by unannounced." Paris said in thought.

"Maybe I could help." Bey said quietly.

"How's that Bey?" Paris asked curiously.

"I know a lot about weapons, I mean, their construction and stuff like that. If you want, I can have a look around and see if I can improvise something." Bey said hesitantly.

"That'd be great. Gerry, would you mind if Bey made a round of the station with you to search for weapon components?" Paris asked, begging for cooperation with his eyes.

"Sure, I guess." Gerry said as he looked between Paris and Bey.

"Thanks. I'm going down to the shuttle bay and see what Janeway's come up with." Paris said, pulling himself up from the chair.

"We'll meet you down there in a little while. This probably won't take long." Gerry said and led the way out of the room.

* * * * *

"What's the good word?" Paris asked as he spotted Janeway walking out of a shuttle.

"The word is 'do-able'. It's going to take some work, but I can rig both of these shuttles and get them working. I'd estimate... a week for the first one. Probably another week for the second." Janeway said in a considering voice.

"Good. I think things are starting to come together. We have food, clothes, sleeping quarters, and soon, transportation." Paris said as he was thinking out loud.

"I notice that you didn't have any weapons on your list." Janeway said as she removed a panel from just inside the shuttle's door.

"Gerry couldn't find any. Bey is going to try and improvise something." Paris said as he moved closer to watch her work.

"Who are you talking about?" Janeway asked without looking up.

"Gerry is the name Geron-Ayala wants to be called and Bey is Sudor-Seska's name." Paris said as he looked into the shuttle from the door.

"I can see how you got Gerry from Geron, but Bey?" Janeway asked incredulously.

"It fits him. Get to know him, he's a good guy." Paris said softly.

Janeway made her final adjustment and put the panel back into place.

"Come and see the shuttle. I think you'll agree with me in saying, it's slightly better than nothing." Janeway said and walked inside.

Paris followed hesitantly and saw what she meant. It was small... too small.

"I know. This will get us somewhere in the local system, but there's no way we're going to catch up with Voyager in these things... even if we *could* hold everyone." Janeway said and threw herself into the pilot's chair.

"Then we'll just have to figure something out." Paris said in thought.

"Yeah, that's an understatement." Janeway said with a chuckle.

"Leave that to me. If you can get us a working shuttle, I'll try and work something out for the longer term." Chakotay said seriously.

"I can't wait to see what." Janeway said and turned to the pilot's controls.

She pressed a button and the panel came to life. Another press and the door closed and sealed.

"Impressive." Paris said seriously.

"You ain't seen nothin yet." Janeway said and pressed a third button.

Paris immediately smelled a change in the air.

"Well? What do you think? Not bad for an hours work." Janeway said happily.

"What's left to make it spaceworthy?" Paris asked, looking around.

"Not much. Some minor adjustments to the nacelles. A little tweak to the navigational systems. Maybe some of Kim's help on the scanners. The scanning technology is about fifty years behind ours." Janeway said as she looked up at Paris.

"As soon as Kim has communications established, you're next on her list." Paris said seriously.

"Thank you. I'm glad to see that you're taking this seriously." Janeway said in an authoritative tone.

"I am. Thank you for not fighting me. I need to get back to the mess hall now. People should be checking in and I need to redistribute some laborers." Paris said as he turned.

"As long as you don't redistribute Carey. He's fantastic with the engines." Janeway said seriously.

"He's yours as long as you need him." Paris said and looked at the door, trying to find the release mechanism.

Janeway pressed the button on her consol and the door opened.

"Thanks." Paris said as he stepped out of the shuttle.

* * * * *

"There you are." Chell said impatiently as Paris walked back into the mess hall.

"What did you need?" Paris asked curiously.

"Aside from ingredients that I can actually cook with? Not much." Chell said in frustration.

"Has someone been giving you trouble about the food?" Paris asked in concern.

"Only everyone. It's not my fault that the previous occupants of this place ate plain yogurt for every meal." Chell said, looking like he was about to cry.

"Calm down Chell..." Paris said in thought.

Chell nodded and took a deep breath.

"Let me see what I can do to help you. Just give me a few minutes to work on it. Okay?" Paris asked hopefully.

"Thanks Cap. I don't mean to whine, I'm just doing my best and getting nothing but complaints... I'm not a cook." He said desperately.

Paris nodded and continued into the mess hall.

He looked around to find three people sitting and chatting.

"Finished exploring?" Paris asked quietly.

"Yes sir." Wildman answered respectfully.

"I need for the three of you to work with Kim on building communicators for everyone." Paris said in an even tone, sounding more informative than commanding.

The three nodded and went to work with Kim.

* * * * *

Chell walked into the room and Paris asked, "Any luck with the food inventory?"

"May I ask you a question?" Chell asked timidly.

"Sure, what would you like to know?" Paris asked as he turned his full attention to Chell.

"Why did you choose me to work in the kitchen?" Chell asked with wide puppy eyes.

Paris thought about it, then said, "Because I remember Mr. Chell from the Crazyhorse. He was always so energetic and wanting to celebrate every accomplishment, no matter how small. I just thought that you would be right for the job..." Paris trailed off at the wounded expression on Chell's face.

"I'm not him." Chell said in a soft voice, almost apologetic.

"I'm not asking you to be him. But I have to make decisions based on the knowledge that I have. Are you saying that you don't want to be in charge of the food?" Paris asked gently.

"No sir, I really don't. I can run a replicator with the best of them, and I can cook a meal for myself if I have a recipe and all the ingredients, but I don't have any talent for improvisation. I'm completely overwhelmed by the job." Chell said, looking as if he were going to burst into tears.

"Then I have another job for you. One that I believe you are perfectly motivated for." Paris said firmly.

"Yes sir?" Chell asked hopefully.

"Talk to the others, get to know them and find out if any of them is an experienced cook. All jokes aside, what we had for lunch won't keep us going. I was able to choke it down, but we need to have something more palatable before long or we're going to start losing unhealthy amounts of weight." Paris said in a low, serious voice.

Chell looked at Paris in question for a moment, then said, "I'll find someone to do the job. I didn't realize the gravity of the situation, if I had, I wouldn't have complained."

"You were being honest with me. You feel that you aren't the man for this job. I don't know who could do it better and I don't have time to find out for myself. If you can take care of this for me, I'll find something more suited to your talents." Paris said sincerely.

"Thank you, and I don't mind the rest of the job, I mean keeping track of the crew quarters and all of that, it's just the cooking that I have no talent for." Chell said simply.

Paris nodded as he noticed Bey and Gerry walking into the room, each carrying a box.

"Did you find anything?" Paris asked hopefully.

"He says he did, I still don't know what he's planning to make with it." Gerry said seriously.

"I tried to explain." Bey said helplessly.

"What are you going to make?" Paris asked quietly.

"I think I have everything I need to make a phase pulse whip." Bey said with difficulty.

"A what?" Paris asked as Gerry flashed him an 'I told you so' expression.

"Okay, the Ferengi have a weapon that is fashioned after the principles of a whip rather then the Earther's weapons that are fashioned after a gun. I have had access to some Ferengi weapons and understand the principle of their construction. I believe I can make something very much like one of their stun whips." Bey said with frustration.

"What do you need to get started?" Paris asked, willing to give Bey the benefit of the doubt.

"I think I have everything I need in this box to construct one weapon. If it works... I could probably scrape up enough materials to make one for almost everyone. All I need now is a work area and time to assemble this." Bey said, pleading with is eyes for Paris to let him try.

"Okay, Chell? Could you assign Bey and I a crew cabin? That way he'll have a private place that he can get started working." Paris asked Chell who was almost ready to leave.

"Yes, come with me." Chell said happily and led the way.

* * * * *

"Can you find your way back to the mess hall?" Paris asked Bey as he watched him unpacking the boxes of supplies.

"Yes. Left out the door, right at the intersecting hallway, take the lift down one level. Third door on the right." Bey said without looking up.

"Good. I'm going to be down there attending to whatever comes up. Join me if you finish or need to take a break." Paris said and walked to the door.

"Paris?" Bey called, looking up from his work.

Paris answered by meeting Bey's eyes with a look of inquiry.

"Thanks for making me your friend. I've been conscious less than a day and I'm already happier than either of my genetic donors ever were." Bey said with a genuine smile.