Cold Fusion

By Jeanette Kofoed

   and Morticia

ST.Voyager C/P P/Others (lots of them! LOL)

Part 2

Randall punched his arm in and the scream he received in return from Tom was more gratifying than he could have ever imagined. He could feel the insides of Tom spasm and collapse under the assault and it only made him push in deeper. He vaguely heard the shattering of glass but all he concentrated on was the screams, the wonderful pained screams. It wasn't until he heard the roar, a roar that made his blood freeze, that he snapped back to reality.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Chakotay stood still at the bedroom door for a moment that for him seemed like hours.

Everything before him passed in slow motion, he could hear Tom's painful cry clear through the fog that had descended upon him.

With an almost animalistic roar he charged forward, slamming McGuire roughly into the wall. He turned towards Randall who had wisely withdrawn his arm from Tom. For a few nano seconds Chakotay looked at Tom, seeing painful sobs wracking through the battered body. Chakotay looked back at Randall and felt the blood in his veins pumping in a raging torrent as an anger he had never felt before arose deep within him, revealing a secret part of him that should have been left alone and untouched.

He saw Randall make a small panicked movement, preparing for escape, and quickly grabbed him hard around the throat.

"What did you think you were doing? What made you think you could get away with this?" Chakotay screamed into his face and tightened his grip around Randall's throat.

"I'll enjoy killing you, you despicable son of bitch."

Randall tried to gulp but his windpipe was completely squeezed shut. Everything before his eyes started turning red as the veins started bursting under the pressure of Chakotay's merciless fingers. He tried to gasp for breath but all that resulted was a sickening feeling in his guts.

Chakotay kept squeezing, enjoying seeing the life in the eyes before him slowly ebb away.

"Cease that at once Commander," Janeway's voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

Chakotay gritted his teeth, there was no way that bitch was going to make him stop, all three of them would die. If he stopped now, he would only have to finish the job later. Chakotay squeezed even harder and Randall felt the last drops of life flow away from him, but suddenly the pressure stopped. Randall only managed to stay conscious long enough to see Chakotay, his former Captain, slump to the floor with Tuvok standing behind him.

Janeway stepped farther into the room, looking at the scene before her. The bed where Tom had been brutally assaulted was a sickening mess. Blood and semen were smeared over the once white sheet. The ropes that had so viciously bound the pilot were now empty. The death of McGuire had alerted the computer and Tom's weakening lifesigns had resulted in his automatic transfer to sickbay with the body, while at the same time alerting the security team and Janeway.

At first she had believed that Tom was the dead man beamed to sickbay but the Doctor commed her soon after telling her that Tom was still alive, even though barely. But he WAS still alive.

She looked back at the unconscious form of both her Commander and Randall, and then over at Ayala, who was restraining Chell.

God, she wanted to kill them all; they could have screwed up her plan. Strangely enough she felt guilt gnawing deep inside but she quickly quelled it. She wasn't supposed to have feelings for Tom, and she hadn't, well maybe a little. It was difficult not letting his charming beauty get under her skin. But she couldn't afford to let her emotions take over, he was only a step to the fame and power she had always wanted. He was, however, a valued and prized possession of hers.

Turning around to face Tuvok, she put on her Captain mask and barked out:

"Put them all in the brig, I'll deal with this later," and then walked out of the room heading for sickbay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He didn't want to move. His entire body was on fire with agony and his mind was a fog of confusion. What had he done this time? What was it that had happened? He wanted all the pain to finally go away, he just wanted to give in to the desire to fade into the peace of oblivion. Over and over he tried to escape towards the beckoning darkness of death but something kept dragging him back.

Why couldn't they just let him leave? Why?

He vaguely heard a voice in the distance... "I am goin ... bleeding internal...operate."

It was too far away. The words too alien. The effort to listen and understand was too much, when all he could feel was waves of pain crashing through his whole body.

He couldn't remember why he was here. He couldn't even remember his own name. Everything was empty, nothing mattered, and there was only the pain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tell me exactly what happened." She said harshly.

"His plan worked, at least to some extent. Chakotay came during the *rape* and he killed McGuire and possibly Randall too. But Tom bit off more than he could chew. He didn't foresee the danger of inviting all three of them, the chances of him surviving it are pretty small." He shrugged carelessly, his words sounding harsh even to himself, but he couldn't let his compassion show to this woman.

He knew people like her too well. She was just like him, or at least the him that he used to be.

Harry looked at Seska as she considered what to do. It was pretty clear that she cared nothing for Tom, his job was done. He had successfully created the scenario that Seska needed to fulfill her plan and was now of no further concern to her, and if Harry didn't play his cards right, he knew that he would soon become expendable too.

~~~~

Chakotay woke to find himself in the brig. His head was pounding with a vicious headache from Tuvok's nerve pinch and his whole body trembled with renewed fury as he realised that Randall and Chell were in the next cells.

The fuckers were still alive.

Then he grinned as he remembered an old, old phrase "Dead men walking". That was what they were. They were just dead men walking.

He stomped furiously up to the force field that sealed him in his cell.  The security guard flinched at his approach, jerking to his feet nervously.

"Harris, isn't it? Crewman Harris?" Chakotay demanded

"Um - Yes, Sir, Harris, Sir!" the young security officer stuttered. He was unsure of the protocol necessary for this situation. Chakotay had been the leader of the Maquis who they had been chasing as criminals. But he was also the First Officer now. He was in the brig, which suggested he had done something wrong, but Harris had absolutely no idea of what had happened. No one had bothered to tell him WHY he had three 'visitors'.

"Please inform Captain Janeway that I am awake and would 'appreciate' her visiting me" Chakotay purred politely

Harris shivered at the discernable menace that underlay the big Maquis' words.  Harris had the uncomfortable feeling that a volcano of violence was bubbling under the Commander's stone exterior.

"Y - yes, Sir!" Harris mumbled and turned hurriedly to comply.

Chakotay watched the nervous crewman fumbling with his com-badge and felt guilty. He was a gentle man by choice. He was usually careful to keep his temper tightly bound and hidden. But the assault on Tom had battered down his defenses and his anger was too raw to be contained.

Chell and Randall were animals that should be put down.  If he had still been on the Crazy Horse he would have spaced them without hesitation. He was not a violent man, but neither was he stupid enough to believe that rapists could be rehabilitated. He was GLAD McGuire was dead. His only regret was that Chell and Randall had to wait for their own punishment.

He suspected that Janeway did not share his views. Why else had she had him put in the brig when he had only been saving Tom? Perhaps it was time to accept that the merging of the crew had been a mistake. If he and Janeway could not agree on as simple a matter as ship's discipline then it was time he re-evaluated his decision to serve under her.

Unless he was satisfied by her visit, he would contact his people and finally take matters into his own hands.

~~~

The Captain was in her ready room when she had the message from Crewman Harris that Chakotay had finally woken up. 

The Doctor had been keeping her advised as to Tom's condition. It was still touch and go as to whether her beautiful pilot would survive and even if he did, she couldn't imagine him ever being the same wonderful carefree lover that she had learned to treasure.

The thought that Tom's satiated body would never again sprawl bonelessly across her bed was like a bitter blow. The realisation that the return of a traumatised, broken Tom Paris to his father would hardly increase her chances of promotion was an even heavier blow.

Damn them, damn them all, and thank god for Chakotay, although she couldn't for the life of her imagine why he had arrived in Tom's quarters so fortuitously.

It had possibly been a mistake to put Chakotay in the brig, but on the other hand, she could hardly have put him in sickbay. The Doctor had his hands full trying to save Tom, whose bowels and intestines had been savagely torn. The Doctor was frantically attempting to stop the spread of infection through Tom's abused body.

Janeway bitterly regretted her own prompt arrival in Tom's quarters. Another few minutes and Chakotay could have finished Chell and Randall.  As it was, she had had to at least appear to protest his actions. Chell and Randall would have to stand trial. After their court martial she would arrange to have them left on the first m-class planet they passed.

It would not have to go in the ship's log that she would shoot them before leaving.

But she had better at least advise Chakotay of her decision. She had a feeling that the angry Commander would accept no less, in view of his insane rage in Tom's quarters.  The last thing Janeway wanted was a mutiny, and unless she immediately placated him, she was sure that he would take up arms against her.

Kathryn Janeway might have been a fool for a pretty face, but she hadn't become a Starfleet Captain without learning a thing or two about human nature. For some reason Chakotay was evidently as interested in Tom as she was. For the moment it suited her plans to accommodate him.

However, God help him if he stepped over the line.  Tom Paris was HERS.

~~~

Tom lay quietly, not daring to move; knowing that any movement would simply increase rather than ease the pain. Every single muscle in his body ached but not in a good way, not the way it usually felt after he had received a good and thorough fucking.

It shouldn't have happened this way, they were only supposed to "rape" him, not kill him. His plan had worked. Chakotay had arrived and gone crazy like he had planned. Only he hadn't seen what Tom had wanted him to see. The scenario had been too bizarre, too humiliating. Having seen Tom suffering such degradation, Chakotay would probably make the same assumption as every other man Tom had ever met, and that was that he was a slut. Hell, every creature he had ever run into had taken one look at him and deemed him to be a whore, a slut.

Maybe he was, but he simply didn't understand why that was a bad thing. He was being good wasn't he? That was what his father had told him anyway. It was his father who had taught him how to please; teaching him that this was the way to make people happy with you.  His father's words had always been kind afterwards, "you did a good job," - "you are a good child." But Seska and Randall and everyone else talked to him differently, harsh words, humiliating words. Never once were they kind or even appreciative of his obedient efforts to please them.

Except...Chakotay, he was different. Tom liked him, maybe even more than liked him, although his own ambivalent emotions only confused him further. Before Chakotay, he had considered sex to simply be a job he was trained to perform and sometimes it resulted in the occassional bonus of his own bodily pleasure. With Chakotay it had been more than pleasure; it was pure ecstasy. During sex, which had always been wild but also oddly tender, the big man had often whispered sweet words of endearments and told him how much he liked him. Even the spanking had turned into something unbelievably satisfying for them both.

It had been such a relief to be appreciated again, for someone to understand that Tom had been born to make people happy. He had thrived on Chakotay's approval even while he had known that he would inevitably be the instrument of Chakotay's destruction. Tom was trying to keep too many people happy and since they all had opposite agendas it was inevitable that someone would get hurt. It was ironic that the person he most feared had used him to destroy the only person he actually liked.

Seska would be planning her next move and in the end she would decide that Chakotay would have to be eliminated. He would only be an obstacle in her plans for absolute control.

And then Chakotay would know. He would know how he, Tom, had seduced him only in order to betray him. How he, Tom, was the one who would eventually lead him into death.

Life was fucking unfair.

~~~

Chakotay lay pensively on the bed, waiting for Janeway to show up and admit her decision to keep him in the brig was a mistake. He finally heard footsteps and looked up only to meet the eyes of Seska. Something about her always made his blood boil and the fact that she was witnessing his current humiliation only fueled his temper.

"What do you want?" He growled out.

In return he only received a smug grin. She sidled closely up to the barrier that confined Chakotay to the small holding cell and looked at him intensely, observing the pent-up emotions swirling within the intense brown eyes of her ex-captain.

"A pretty little boy like Thomas shouldn't be left alone." She said, to Chakotay's surprise, pacing up and down in front of the force field "Now you are trapped helplessly in here and he's all vulnerable out there."

Chakotay narrowed his eyes dangerously. How dare she come in here and say that? On the other hand, she was right.

"Why do you care about Tom?" He spat.

"I don't. But I do care about you, Chakotay, and Tom is YOURS. There was a time you had the balls to protect what was yours. It was bad enough that you let Janeway dress you up in a pretty uniform, I didn't realise that she castrated you at the same time."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU BITCH" he yelled. He lunged towards her only to collide painfully with the force field. He was violently repelled, collapsing to the floor and then scrambling quickly to his feet again.

"Janeway has already commed me. She will follow Starfleet procedures. Randall and Chell will be tried, found guilty and left on the next suitable m-class planet. I am not a prisoner, she understands that I was fighting to save Tom's life, I am merely being held as a material witness until their Court Martial later today," Chakotay snarled.

"You are so naïve, Chakotay. She's just trying to pacify you. There will never be a SUITABLE planet. Voyager is short-handed as it is. She's not going to abandon Randall and Chell just because they got a bit carried away with your boyfriend. They will walk free in the end you know, Chakotay.  Before long, Janeway will suggest that they be paroled so they can work and the first thing they will do is finish what they started. Tom will spend the rest of his short life looking over his shoulder."

"I will kill them," Chakotay promised. "If she lets them go, I will kill them."

"What makes you think that you will be free here to protect him? I don't care what explanation she gave you, Chakotay, look at yourself, you're in the Brig. How do you know she isn't going to try YOU for murder after all? Why would she miss the opportunity to get rid of you? She hasn't told the crew what happened to Tom. She could convict you of McGuire's murder. Randall and Chell will say whatever she tells them to in order to save their own necks."

Chakotay swallowed angrily. He had been furious at Janeway's refusal to release him. Her comment that it wouldn't look good to the crew to see him released before the Court-Martial took on a whole new insidious aspect.

Seska stopped walking and stared at him with fire in her eyes,

"So the way I see it, you either take over the position as Captain, save your little lover from the bad guys and make sure that they get what they deserve, or simply stay here and wait for her to decide how to punish them - and you, even though you only did what you did to protect him. In the meanwhile someone else gets their hands on Tom. Did you know that she's pretty crazy about him too?"

"Janeway and TOM?"

"Rumor has it she only got him out of prison because she had the hots for him. It undoubtedly pisses her off no end that he is in love with you. Removing you from the scene would give her a clear shot." Seska purred slyly.

As she expected, the comment that Tom was actually 'in love' with him was the final nail in Janeway's coffin.

"That stupid, incompetent woman will never see the Alpha Quadrant again as a Captain, and if I have any say in it, today will be her last day of command,"  Chakotay snarled furiously. He took a deep breath before he continued,

"I order you Seska, in the name of the Maquis, to get me out of here. Gather MY crew together, now."

Seska laughed inside, this plan was too fucking easy. Checking that the security guard was still unconscious from the blow she had struck as she entered, she quickly entered a set of codes into his console and the force field dropped, releasing one very angry warrior.

~~~

Harry stood watching the motionless body. He knew Tom was awake, he'd seen movement behind his eyelids earlier.

Right now, Seska was out putting the final touches to her plan, making sure that Chakotay was ready and spiked for a fight. Chakotay would break his oath of allegiance to Janeway and take over the ship, all because of Tom.

It staggered him that this man could inspire such devotion in a person like Chakotay. Yet, on the other hand, it made sense. Harry had only pretended to be friends with Tom, he had only pretended to like him, but somewhere along the line it had stopped being an act. Harry DID like him. Tom reminded him of the man he had once wanted to be. The person that Tom was when he wasn't "working" was the man Harry had once dreamed of becoming. An adventurer, a free spirit, an innocent despite everything he had done.

Somehow, in spite of Tom's inability to defy Seska, he still retained an innocent joie de vivre that astounded Harry. Tom dealt with the humiliations of his life by tucking the unpleasant aspects into neat little boxes, opening them when necessary and then closing them and moving on, apparently untouched. An hour after being forced into some grotesque sexual liaison, Tom could be found laughing and carefree in the mess hall, the incident forgotten, and his indomitable spirit unbowed.

Harry envied him the ability to forget.

Somewhere along his Academy years, he had himself taken the wrong road. He might appear to be Ensign Harry Kim, the naïve ensign, but he wasn't. He had discovered, quite by accident, that the only thing that turned him on sexually was inflicting pain. At first his victims had been willing participants, sad bastards who enjoyed his games as long as they never got out of hand. It was like a drug. The more he experimented, the less he was satisfied. He discovered prostitutes who would let him do more, if the price was right, but it was never enough and on a student's allowance he struggled to pay for his pleasures.

So he stopped asking and stopped paying. For years he had abused any pathetic victim that he had found in the poorer areas of each city, town, planet, hell even space station he had visited. Without conscience or pity he had used his innocent looks to lure his victims. By the time they realised his intentions it was always too late for them.  He had been like Seska, cold, unfeeling and merciless.

He had spotted Tom at the bar in DS9. The absence of any rank insignia on Tom's uniform had marked him as a potential victim. Harry only chose the waifs and strays that wouldn't dare report him afterwards. He had pegged the gorgeous blonde as just another drunken loser who wouldn't be believed and had deliberately lured Tom with his 'poor naïve ensign' act.

He had been furious to discover that Tom had been assigned to Voyager, thinking that the blonde would refuse his demands, so he had been stunned by Tom's compliance. Tom had been a fantasy come true, every man's wet dream in one delicious package. Tom had been all that Harry had ever wanted.

Tom hadn't objected to him being 'rough' and afterwards had always simply shrugged, shaken himself and escorted Harry to Voyager. Later that night he had played pool with Harry, laughing and joking as though the Ensign had never hurt him.

Harry quickly realised that Tom was an unpopular addition to Voyager and decided that if he pretended to be his friend, it was likely that Tom would be grateful enough to participate in further 'games'. The idea of having his own captive victim freed Harry of the tension he had been carrying for years. There was no longer any reason for subterfuge, no more fear of discovery. For the first time in years, Harry felt safe.

The illusion was quickly shattered.

How was he supposed to know that Tom belonged to Seska?

Seska had confronted him. Somehow she knew about his past, had details, vids, evidence that would get him locked up forever. She had dragged him into her schemes and warned him to keep his own hands off her property.

He had avoided Tom for several days before deciding that he could at least look even if he couldn't touch. He was entertaining a particular fantasy about Tom's ass and a very thick pool cue. He might have to just imagine it, but it would help his wet dreams to get a close up of the pilot's tight muscular ass.

He had been wary about approaching Tom, expecting to see a shadow of fear in Tom's face or even smugness about Seska's interference, but Tom's blue eyes had merely sparkled with innocent happiness at his invitation to play pool. He never mentioned the incident on DS9 and as the hours passed, Harry realised that Tom actually seemed to have forgotten that it had ever happened.

Harry maintained the illusion of friendship, getting a sick pleasure from taunting himself with Tom's closeness. Besides, the Delta Quadrant was a dangerous place, Seska might meet with an unpleasant accident and he wanted to be first in line if Tom came back 'on the market'.

He wasn't sure when his feelings towards Tom had begun to change into genuine care. It wasn't some thunderous revelation; it was a slow creeping tide that had insidiously drowned him. It had overcome him so gradually that by the time he was trapped by Tom's charm it was too late to escape. 

The incident with Randall had sickened him. He had been aware of Tom's plan to be 'raped' and had been surprised by a gut-rolling distaste. He had put the feeling down to jealousy at first. It was only when Tom had nearly died, and Seska had been so fucking casual about it, that he had realised that the sick feeling was actually fear for his friend.

Friend. A word he had never had time for. A concept he had never even valued before Tom had innocently stolen his heart. Tom WAS his friend. It was only a shame for Tom that Harry had been so undeserving of the honor.

He should have interfered. He should have stopped the "rape" before it even started. He should have stood up to Seska. That's what a friend would have done. A friend wouldn't have cared about his own safety.

Tom was his friend and his friend was still in deep trouble.

Harry looked at Tom again, seeing him shifting painfully on the bio-bed as he tried to move the weight of his body to ease his aching insides.

Without hesitation he walked over to soothe him, finally prepared to help anyway he could. He owed Tom for the gift of his renewed humanity and it was a debt he was going to pay even if it meant that he would be risking his own life.

~~~

Chakotay stood in the cargo bay and looked with grim satisfaction at the gathered faces of his Maquis comrades. B'Elanna had disconnected all of the security monitors and communications systems. Ayala had taken a small stealth team and had raided the weapons lockers. Seska now stood at his side with the sly feral grin of a Ferengi. It was all she could do not to wring her hands in glee as she saw the plasma rifles and stun grenades being distributed amongst her people.

Chakotay was nearly incandescent with rage. Seska had supplied him with a holo-vid of Tom's internal injuries along with the Doctor's detailed notes on the pilot's condition. As she had hoped, Chakotay was blinded by the horrific details. They had pushed every button of outrage and protection so that the gentle side of Chakotay's nature was now completely sublimated by the need to save Tom from further harm.

Men were so easy to manipulate, she thought to herself with a secret snigger, as Chakotay addressed the crowd.

"I made a decision when we came aboard this ship. At the time I felt that it was the right thing to do. An alliance with the crew of Voyager seemed to be our only chance of surviving in this quadrant and although it went against my personal morals, I decided that we would have to accept Starfleet uniforms and become part of Voyager's crew.

"I was unfortunately under the impression that Kathryn Janeway was a good and decent person. Recent events have made me accept the fallacy of that assumption. Captain Janeway is an egocentric, power-hungy individual with no care or concern for her own crew. I am no longer prepared to allow you or them to suffer under her command."

Chakotay's comment was met with rumbles of both agreement and discontent.  The Maquis trusted Chakotay. They knew it had not been an easy decision for the proud man to make, to accept the position of First Officer under the Starfleet bitch. None of them had been happy with the situation, yet they had obeyed him. Now it seemed that he had finally changed his mind.

There were those in the crowd who applauded his decision to subdue the 'fleet crew and make Voyager a Maquis vessel after all. Yet an equal number of people had begun to find genuine friendships on Voyager with the 'fleet crew. The idea of an armed insurrection both excited and horrified them.

"I believe that a large proportion of the Starfleet personnel will agree to join with us once we have removed Janeway.  They are just normal men and women who want, more than anything, to go home." Chakotay told them.

"Unfettered by Starfleet regulations we are free to make allegiances with the people of the Delta Quadrant," Seska interrupted, "we will be safer, stronger and will have a better chance of seeing our homes again. We will put an end to the senseless 'exploration' of passing phenomena. Janeway is a scientist, she sees this as some unique opportunity to explore and make a name for herself. How many times are we going to let her ignore our need to get home and instead traipse off on some wild tangent so that she can return home in personal glory?"

"So we are going to invite the 'fleet crew to join us?" Ayala asked

"We will systematically clear the decks until all of the fleet crew are contained here in cargo bay 2. Then we will give them the choice to join us or not," Chakotay said firmly.

"How will we know who we can trust? What if they just pretend to go along with us?" B'Elanna spat angrily.

"Without Janeway or Tuvok they will be as helpless as a rudderless ship," Seska replied scathingly, "they are Starfleet drones. Once Chakotay is the Captain, they will learn to obey him."

"What if they don't?" Ayala asked and a low rumble accompanied his query.

"Maquis rules will apply. There will be no middle-ground. Either they are with us and obey without question or we leave them behind," Chakotay replied.

"So you aren't planning on killing them?" Geron asked with evident relief.

"We are Maquis, not murderers. We will attempt to take the ship without violence. There will inevitably be some injuries and possible fatalities during the take over, but once the 'fleet crew have been contained there will be no further violence permitted," Chakotay told his crew and saw most of them sigh with relief.

Seska sighed internally at the pathetic material she had to work with. Not one of the stupid bastards had the guts to simply do what had to be done.  Even Chakotay was going to be a liability at this rate. She contemplated whether it would be a good idea for Chakotay to become one of the initial 'possible fatalities'. Since he had already nominated her as his First Officer, she was tempted to simply let him start the insurrection and then immediately take over after its success.

She had planned to use Tom to keep Chakotay in line, but given the Doc's report, Tom was practically useless now. It would be months before he would be fuckable again.

Her decision made, she handed Chakotay his own weapon (the one she had secretly emptied the charge out of) and stepped back with a grin.  By 0800 she would be the Captain of Voyager, Janeway and Tuvok would have been executed, Chakotay would be shot down in the first volley of weapons fire and Tom would have unfortunately expired from an unexpected infection.

Life was good.

TBC