Hostage
By Morticia
Part 10
“You hit me, if
you remember,” Tom reminded him bitterly, ”so by the time I woke up we were
already back on the other side of the defense grid. The aliens, the B’rech’k
I mean, deactivated the mines apparently so Baytart had no problem getting out.
“By the time I
arrived back on the bridge the Captain had ordered that we should follow the
edge of the minefield and see if we could discover a breach in the defenses.
Given the curve, she realised it would have to be protecting a huge region of
space and that there was a chance that if we kept orbiting it there might be a
way to get through undetected in another place.”
“Actually the
grid isn’t patrolled at all,” Chakotay told him, “we just happened to
arrive at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Tom looked at him
in surprise and then blushed.
“Just the typical
Paris luck once again, I guess. It’s a knack I have,” he said bitterly.
“It’s not your
fault, Tom,” Chakotay assured him but the pilot just stiffened angrily.
“Of course it is,
it always is. You told me not to go into the minefield and I was too fucking
arrogant to listen. I thought you were calling me on my ability and I just
wanted to prove you wrong. I wanted to show you I wasn’t always a fuck-up, and
guess what, you were right all along,” Tom snapped and ducked his head to hide
his sudden tears of self-pity.
Chakotay wanted to
comfort him, but the slowly increasing throb in his lap warned him to stay away.
So he just made his voice light and non-accusing.
“So you were
showing off a little but with a Kazon warband on our tail, I don’t see you had
any other option. I may have ordered you not to enter the minefield but I
didn’t give you any better suggestions and we were getting shot to hell, and I
don’t think you’re a fuck-up, Tom, you’re the finest pilot I’ve ever
known.”
Tom looked at him
with disbelief. “Hey, remember me? Tom Paris, the guy you love to hate?
You’ve not only been turned into a fucking sex-craved cannibal, you’ve had a
memory transplant too, obviously.”
Tom’s vicious
words tore right through Chakotay. He forced himself not to bite back. He knew
Tom was feeling vulnerable and the last thing the younger man needed was for him
to lose his own temper or even tell him the truth. A declaration of love at this
juncture would probably give Tom a heart attack.
“I’m still
waiting for the explanation of how you got here, Lieutenant,” he snapped
harshly and Tom coloured at Chakotay’s reminder of who was in charge.
“We found a place
where Tuvok said that most of the mines had been deactivated so the Captain
decided it might be worth sending a probe in and checking for a response,” He
told Chakotay tonelessly.
“We got one, but
not the one we were expecting. An alien ship de-cloaked on our side of the grid
this time. Only it wasn’t the B’rech’k fortunately. We were expecting some
kind of attack of course but this lot were friendly. They had seen Voyager
moving along the defense grid and had come to warn us not to enter. It turned
out the B’rech’k reputation for taking ‘hostages’ and never returning
them had spread to all the neighboring planets and these guys regularly
patrolled to warn passing strangers.”
“Friendly of
them,” Chakotay murmured distractedly, the dull ache in his groin had been
replaced by the first sharp waves of heat.
“Yeah, well they
turned out to be a friendly race. They invited us back to their planet and the
Captain agreed in the hope we might find something of value to trade for you. Of
course, we soon found out it was all a lie. They told us that the B’rech’k
NEVER gave their hostages back. They always found a reason why the ransom was
insufficient. Then they told us that the B’rech’k had some kind of disease
and that the Hostages were infected so couldn’t go home anyway.”
“They KNEW
that?” Chakotay asked
“Well not the
details, obviously, otherwise I would have known what I was getting myself into,
wouldn’t I?” Tom replied reasonably, “they just said that they had once
found a wrecked ship and the log was incomplete but suggested that the crew had
offered something the B’rech’k couldn’t refuse, and that the returned
Captain died some agonising death within 24 hours but not before he had infected
some of the crew and the log got kind of hazy but it seemed they all went mad
and killed themselves.”
Chakotay shuddered
with memory of his own trauma as he imagined the scenario of a B’rech’k
without k’tech running rampage on an unsuspecting crew before his heart
finally exploded.
“Then it turned
out the only thing the Qren had of value to offer us was their cloaking
technology and that the B’rech’k had already rejected it in an earlier
trade. So B’Elanna suggested we cloaked Voyager and just came in and beamed
you off. I said we could beam you straight into sickbay behind a force field so
that we wouldn’t get infected and the Doctor could work on a cure.”
“So that’s what
we did, we cloaked Voyager, came back through the minefield and came after you.
You’d been gone 10 days by then but the B’rech’k ship was moving really
slowly so we caught up with you easily enough.
“Only we
couldn’t pick up your life signs anywhere on board. The computer insisted you
weren’t here. I offered to beam over and pretend to be a K’tech and see what
had happened to you but no one would listen, they all assumed you were dead and
that’s why we couldn’t trace you on board.
"Of
course we had senior staff meeting after bloody senior staff meeting and all the
time the Captain looked so sad she wanted to just curl up and die herself but in
the end –“
“In the end she
decided she couldn’t risk any of the crew on the remote hope I MIGHT be alive,
especially since even if I was alive, the chances were that I was carrying a
fatal infection.” Chakotay interrupted mildly.
“Yeah,” Tom
spat in remembered outrage “she decided to leave you to rot and carry on
home.”
“She was right,
Tom. It was the only call. I would have made the same decision in her place,”
Chakotay told him calmly.
Tom’s eyes
flashed in disbelief, “She was going to leave you, Chakotay. She was just
going to go and leave you behind. Doesn’t that even bother you?”
“I agreed to the
probability when I chose to offer myself to the B’rech’k, Tom. I admit I had
no idea what I was getting myself into but I never regretted my choice until I
found you in that cage today. I assume you beamed yourself over?”
“I thought about
it but realised that all they would do was just immediately beam me back. So I
waited until we got back to the Qren and secretly did a deal for a smaller
cloaking device.”
“What kind of
deal?” Chakotay asked, narrowing his eyes.
Tom flushed “The
kind that involves a pack of cards,” he confessed.
Chakotay nodded
grimly, “And then you stole a shuttle?” he asked.
“I thought about
it,” Tom admitted “but I figured they would immediately realise what I was
up to. I hadn’t exactly been quiet about how I felt about you.”
“How you felt
about me?” Chakotay queried hopefully
“How I felt about
you taking my place,” Tom replied crushingly.
“So how DID you
get here?”
“I threw a
tantrum. I’m good at that remember? I said they all made me sick and I wanted
off of Voyager. That if they could turn their backs on you there was little
point in ME sticking around and waiting for the knife in MY back. It took a
couple of days but by the time I’d finished the Captain realised her only
options were to put me in the brig for the rest of the journey or let me off. We
were already a couple of days from Qren by then and she didn’t want to turn
back but she wouldn’t give me a shuttle either. She said I’d have to wait
for the next inhabited settlement and get off on foot.”
“So THEN you
stole the shuttle?” Chakotay asked tiredly.
Tom looked at him
sheepishly. “I would have, but in the end Neelix let me have HIS ship. He said
he and Kes were happy on Voyager so I was welcome to it.
“Anyway, I helped
myself to a full med-kit and everything and
“How did you get
on board?”
“This ship has a
small open docking bay and no shields worth shit. I just flew in and parked.
I waited for some kind of alert or something, but it never happened. So I
waited a bit, to get my nerve to be honest, and then I stripped naked and simply
walked into the ship.”
“How did you get
caught?”
“I stepped into
this black corridor and the door closed behind me and disappeared. So I walked
and walked and kept walking and there was just no way out.”
Chakotay sighed as
he remembered his own feelings of helplessness before his vision had adapted.
“Anyway, this
couple of B’rech’k found me and seemed really surprised to see me, they kept
asking me how I’d got out and how long had I been lost to be so thin. So I
played along and said I’d been lost for ages and I was really confused and
they didn’t seem mad or alarmed or anything. They put this collar round my
neck and I just kept quiet, thinking it was better not to say too much until I
understood what was happening and they actually seemed nice, almost petting me
like I was some scared animal that they wanted to placate.
“Then they took
me THERE,” and Tom suddenly shivered, going cold despite the warmth of the
water.
“I’m so sorry,
Tom,” Chakotay murmured, heart-broken at the look of complete desolation on
the younger man’s face.
Tom couldn’t look
at Chakotay as he finished his tale.
“When they left
me with HIM and I realised what he was going to do to me I tried to tell him who
I was. I didn’t even know about the meat thing then, all I knew was he was
going to rape me and I couldn’t stop him and I wanted to die,” Tom
whispered, “he didn’t even give me a chance to speak really. As soon as I
tried to explain who I was he hit me so hard he nearly broke my jaw and then he
– he - “ and Tom finally broke down and cried.
Chakotay didn’t
dare go near him, as much as Tom’s pain ripped at his soul. His own cock was
screaming now for attention and he simply couldn’t risk touching Tom. He knew
he would rather castrate himself than lay a finger of violence on the man he
loved but he was ashamed that the rage he felt against Baddiel was also tinged
with sick jealousy.
But it was sick
jealousy, he reminded himself. It was the B’rech’k in him that burned with
excitement over the thought of Tom being torn and penetrated. He might not look
or even think like Chakotay anymore, but he still bore Chakotay’s spirit and
that spirit loved Tom Paris more than life itself.
He had to get away
from Tom, and fast. He rose up out
of the bath. Tom looked up at his movement and then paled as he saw that
Chakotay’s monstrous penis was fully engorged. He began to shake in terror at
the unmistakable lust in Chakotay’s alien black eyes.
“I have to take
care of this,” Chakotay said with quiet dignity, his face flushing with
embarrassment, “I would appreciate it if you didn’t watch me.”
Slowly Chakotay’s
words sank through Tom’s terror as he realised the Commander was going to
slake his lust with one of the waiting K’tech. He was both horrified and
grateful. As he had talked to Chakotay in the bath he had almost been able to
forget what Chakotay had become and almost pretend that the Commander wasn’t
REALLY a B’rech’k.
Chakotay’s calm
and reasonable explanation of the change had made it sound almost clinical and
since Tom was incapable of imagining Chakotay as anything less than the proud
controlled man of his experience and had acted more rationally since his rescue
of Tom than he had acted himself, the sudden change in Chakotay’s demeanor
was terrifying.
Yet despite the way
Chakotay’s black eyes burned and glistened with uncontrollable lust, still the
soft dignity of his request had made Tom’s heart lurch with sympathy. He
nodded and moved in the bath until he was facing away from the bed.
He sat and quivered
in memory of his own rape as he heard the roars and cries of frenetic coupling
behind him. It went on for an indeterminable time and the nose and smell hit him
like a physical blow. He trembled in reaction, surprised to find a small
stirring in his own groin in response to the sounds of animalistic passion that
filled the room.
He cursed himself
for his body’s reaction even as he found a small measure of relief in both his
current arousal and his earlier reaction to Chakotay. After Baddiel’s rape he
had felt so unmanned that he had doubted that he would ever achieve an erection
again.
He flushed that it
had been Chakotay’s body that had rubbed him to the orgasm, but he comforted
himself that Chakotay had been right. It hadn’t been because the Commander
turned him on but only that he had reacted to the friction. Like Chakotay had
said it had been no different than masturbation really.
He shivered again
as he heard Chakotay scream in orgasm for the fifth time. He had a need to turn
and look, an urge to watch the rutting that was sending unwelcome thoughts and
feelings through his own body as his nostrils flared at the strange irresistible
scent that kept wafting from behind him.
But he couldn’t
do it. He had promised Chakotay not to witness his humiliation and that was what
it was, Tom realised. No matter if Chakotay was ravaging the K’tech, it was no
less a rape of the Commander himself than Tom’s treatment in the hands of
Baddiel. Had Chakotay or any other member of Voyager’s crew witnessed his own
rape, Tom didn’t think he could have ever faced them again. The least he could
do was give Chakotay the same kind of anonymity.
So he stayed in the
water until he thought his skin would wrinkle and peel off and when Chakotay
finally returned to join him the black eyes were embarrassed but calmly
controlled again. As he descended the wide steps into the bath, Tom could have
sworn he saw bloodstains between Chakotay’s thighs but it didn’t make sense
and he could hardly ask, so he said nothing.
“How long before
it happens again?” he finally asked when he realised that Chakotay had sank
his head back exhaustedly and seemed to be about to fall asleep.
“About six hours
unless Keysh comes up with the injections he promised,” Chakotay muttered
miserably.
“So you’re
safe?” Tom asked hesitantly.
Chakotay opened his
eyes and looked at Tom solemnly. “I swear to you Thomas Eugene Paris that I
would rather die than hurt you.”
Tom nodded. He
believed Chakotay implicitly but he wasn’t as trusting of the mad-eyed
B’rech’k that Chakotay turned into. It was like living with Jeckyll and
Hyde, he decided, but at least Mr Hyde wasn’t planning a return for several
more hours.
“Then can we get
out of this bloody water before my skin falls off?” Tom said with a wry grin,
“unless you are par-boiling me for supper?”
For a moment
Tom’s sick joke made Chakotay stiffen with anger and then slowly a genuine
smile crept over his face and his dimples flashed.
Trust Tom Paris to crack a line like that, he thought and his sudden rush
of love for the younger man was like a balm for his ravaged spirit.
Tom saw the
Commander’s reluctant smile and for a moment he actually looked like Chakotay
again. “Can we get in bed?” he asked hesitantly, “I haven’t slept in a
bed for over a week and frankly you look even more tired than I am.”
Chakotay was
stunned yet again by Tom’s faith in him. Despite everything, the pilot was
willing to share his bed and trust him enough to sleep. He had a stupid urge to
cry again. Damn, he thought, he really needed to get a grip on his emotions. He
understood that the disease was probably ravaging his emotional control as much
as his sexual but even so he was damned if he was going to break down and
sniffle every time Tom was nice to him.
“Sure,” he
answered and reached out his hand to the younger man. For a moment Tom stiffened
involuntarily and then he took a deep breath and extended his fingers to be
enveloped in Chakotay’s huge paw. Then he let Chakotay help him out of the
bath. The steps were definitely made for B’rech’k he decided since even his
own long legs struggled with the distance between them.
Wi and Skan rushed
forwards with towels and Tom took one gratefully. He looked at the two K’tech
with interest. They certainly didn’t look bothered by Chakotay’s earlier
treatment of them, if anything they looked somewhat smug. They also had no scent
at all that Tom could detect, despite Chakotay’s comments about
K’tech-smell. The only odor he was aware of was the powerful muskiness of
Chakotay.
He felt his cock
twitch and stiffen as he sniffed and he flushed in embarrassment. Shit, he
couldn’t believe he could honestly get horny just because of a smell,
especially since it was coming off the Commander. He reminded himself firmly
that no matter how nice Chakotay was being to him, it was only because he felt
responsible for Tom as his junior officer.
Besides, Chakotay
was a man and Tom didn’t go for that sort of thing, he reminded himself. Then
his body spasmed as he had a flashback of Baddiel and had to close his eyes, but
at least the thought had made him lose the embarrassing erection.
He handed the wet
towel to Wi who took it with an oddly superior air.
“What?” he
hissed angrily at the K’tech as he saw the boy’s blue eyes raking his body
and then visibly dismissing him.
“You don’t
please the master,” Wi replied with a definite look of satisfaction.
Tom was tempted to
tell the little slut exactly what he thought about ‘pleasing’ the master but
still there was something about Wi’s comment that disturbed him.
“Why do you think
that?” he asked the K’tech.
“He has not given
you the K’tech’nar so you are still only meat,” Wi replied and then his
satisfaction dimmed a little as his conscience got the better of him. He had
been jealous of the attention his master had given the new K’tech, but it was
no excuse to wish him back to the larder, he realised belatedly.
“Unless you earn
the K’tech’nar, you will be returned to the kitchen,” he advised Tom
reluctantly.
Tom broke away from
Wi and rushed to Chakotay who was already turning down the covers to crawl into
bed. Tom grabbed his bicep painfully,
“What the hell
are K’tech’nar and WHY haven’t you given them to me?” he demanded
desperately.
Worried the scene
was being observed, Chakotay gently but firmly detached Tom’s fingers. “Get
into bed, Tom and I’ll explain everything but try to at least LOOK
subservient,” he whispered.
Tom swallowed
nervously as he remembered Chakotay’s mention of B’rech’k observers and he
dove into the bed with a show of enthusiasm. Chakotay climbed in beside him,
spooning up to his back and then pulling the covers over them both. Tom
stiffened against the feel of Chakotay’s warm body against his own but finally
sighed and relaxed. The mattress was soft, the Commander’s body was strangely
comforting and when Chakotay bent and nuzzled his neck so that he could whisper
to him, Tom found the soft warm breath on his skin to be oddly pleasant.
“The
K’tech’nar are the body ornaments that personal K’tech wear,” Chakotay
explained quietly, “they prove that you belong to a B’rech’k and are not
merely a meat k’tech. If you feel safer wearing them, and to be honest you
would be, then of course you can wear them, but I’ll have to ask Keysh about
how K’tech are pierced.”
Tom swallowed as he
realised he would have to have his nipples and ears pierced. Even so, it seemed
a small price to pay for the added security the K’tech’nar would give him,
he decided and then he was angered by his own thought. What the hell was wrong
with him? Why was he even considering allowing Chakotay to adorn him like a
sex-toy?
“When are we
going to escape?” He asked Chakotay desperately.
“Escape?”
Chakotay asked, his voice heavy with exhaustion.
“Yeah, escape,
vamoose, split,” Tom whispered back irritably, “I told you my ship’s in
the dock and the B’rech’k obviously haven’t found it or they would have
realised who I am.”
Chakotay kicked
himself. Why the hell hadn’t he picked up on Tom’s earlier comment? Because
you were too desperate for sex, he reminded himself bitterly. He gathered his
thoughts and decided he may as well tell Tom the truth.
“I can’t leave,
Tom.” Chakotay told him sadly, ”but you can. I’ll take you to the ship
tomorrow and you can get away.”
Tom spun in his
arms so that he could look Chakotay in the face, “What the hell do you mean
you can’t leave but I can? I came here to get you and I’m not leaving
without you.”
“I need the
K’tech essence to survive. I can’t leave my quarters with more than one
K’tech so I can’t take Wi or Skan with us without us being caught and
without them I’ll die.”
“You said this
Keysh could supply you with the essence in the form of injections. Can’t you
just get a pile of hypo sprays to take with you?”
“What happens
when they run out, Tom? You told me yourself that Voyager has gone. There’s no
one out there to help us. We’ll end up alone on a small ship and I’ll run
out of essence. It’s not an option so forget it. Tomorrow I’ll take you to
the docking bay and you can get the hell out of here.”
“You told me
earlier that you would rather die than remain a B’rech’k. Now you are too
scared of dying to leave and try to find a cure?” Tom asked him in disgust.
“I’m too
frightened of hurting YOU, Tom.” Chakotay replied. “When I run out of
essence and there’s only you, I’ll lose control.”
Tom looked at him
with bewildered eyes. “You told me you only reacted to K’tech,” he
accused.
Chakotay wrapped
his arms firmly around the pilot and hugged him tightly. He knew his next words
would shatter Tom but only the truth would convince Tom that he had to take his
opportunity to leave.
“You ARE
K’tech, Tom,” he said sadly and felt Tom stiffen.
“You’re still
early in the change, that’s why I didn’t sense it at first but the K’tech
scent IS on you and it is getting stronger by the hour. In another few days I
will be unable to keep my hands off you. So you see, you have to leave while I
can still let you go.”
“No, I don’t
believe you, you’re just trying to make me leave without you.” Tom said
desperately.
“The disease is
sexually transmitted, Tom. You’ve had it for over a week.” Chakotay told him
bluntly.
Tom gave a wail of
despair and shook desperately in his arms as understanding struck him like a
physical blow. Chakotay bent down and kissed the top of his head.
“I’m so sorry,
Tom,” he whispered.
“What’s going
to happen to me?” Tom asked Chakotay when the first shock had finally worn
off.
“I honestly
don’t know Tom. As far as I can tell, k’tech don’t have the same sexual
imperative but I’m not certain.”
“So perhaps I
will die too if I don’t have a B’rech’k?” Tom asked in a small voice.
“Like I said, I
don’t think it’s the same for K’tech. Otherwise the meat k’tech would
die.” Chakotay replied.
“You think so?”
Tom said ironically and Chakotay remembered Ikton telling him that Baddiel
didn’t have personal K’tech because he had the meat k’tech to use.
He pulled Tom
tightly to himself in desperation.
“I don’t know
then, Tom, I honestly don’t know but I’ll find out,” he promised and hoped
that Keysh would have the answer.
They clung to each
other for comfort, both trapped by their own individual nightmares and sleep was
a long time coming.