The Last Cell

by Cheryl Forbes

Disclaimer: Voyager and her crew are the property of Paramount and not me. Whatever.

Summary: An answer to Ellison's challenge. The boys in the Maquis days and a happy ending. Well I don't know happy it was but it kept to canon. Wait they did get together so that was happy and then… oh shit maybe you should just read it, and judge for yourself.


He 'did' not want to be here.

It was drafty, the facilities sucked and the bed in the miniscule quarters must have been specifically designed with a Ferengi in mind and a shorter than usual one at that. Tom shifted his long legs again trying to find a place to put them in the small bunk and bitched into the stale air of the cabin.

"Fuck you Chakotay!"

He'd already said the mantra umpteen times in his head since boarding the Crazy Horse, and probably would many times more before this cock-eyed mission was over.

Sometimes it didn't pay to be an admiral's son. Especially one with a checkered past that needed redeeming.

Tom had been in Marseilles doing nothing much of anything when he'd been oh so politely but forcefully brought to Starfleet Head quarters in Old San Francisco. Once there and in the presence of his father, Admiral Nechayev, Captain Jellico and a few other fleet brass, he had been offered what was supposed to be his redemption. 

They saw him as a man to be saved. Tom saw himself as a man whose long over due vacation from a lifetime of bullshit bureaucracy, had been interrupted. To him, being a civilian and not having to answer to anybody but himself, was a goal worth striving for and was one he'd been hard at work at in France before being picked up by a couple of the Fleet's finest.

The deal was simple. Find the last Maquis cell and deliver it to the Federation or spend the rest of his life doing community work in a Bajoran reclamation farm. It didn't matter to these men that he'd already done his time for the Caldik Prime fiasco. They wanted him and had the power to change the rules if it was to their benefit. Since Tom had never acquired a taste for hasperat, or manual labor, he had entertained their offer. The bastards had him by the short hairs, what choice did he have?

So after being hastily briefed on the Maquis, the demilitarized zone affectionately called the Badlands and the leader of the cell in question, he'd been shipped off to a cesspool of a planet called Nimbus III. Apparently an informant had alerted Starfleet intelligence that the Maquis leader Chakotay would be in the area and he'd be looking for a pilot. Enter the disillusioned and self-destructive Tom Paris. It grated him that it wasn't such hard role for him to play.

He'd only been there a few days, hustling pool, drinking and badmouthing Starfleet all the while before the cell leader had approached him. No, propositioned him would be more like it.

The dark smoldering Maquis had first introduced himself with his hands. Tom had been sizing his next mark at the bar when Chakotay had come up behind him. It had been a firm hand on his butt and then a questing finger tracing the seam of his jeans to just behind his balls that had caught his attention.

"Is this for sale?" Came a sultry whisper in his ear that made the hairs at the nape of his neck stand on end.

"It depends."

Dismissing his victim, he had turned to face the owner of the seductive voice to be pleasantly surprised. The handsome man before him leaning lazily against the bar with a mysterious smile that would have rivaled the Mona Lisa's was nothing like the monster described in his briefing. Chakotay was somebody he would have actively seduced back to his bed-sit in Marseilles after he cleaned him out at the billiard table. 

"On what my friend?"

"On what you have to offer." He said playing the game and desperately trying to remember that it was just that.

"What is it you want?"

"Oh I don't know how about universal peace or a solution to the conflict with the Dominion but barring that, I'd be satisfied with a really good fuck."

"Well since my powers of persuasion don't extend very far beyond my own sphere of influence, I'm afraid all I can offer is your last request."

"I did say 'really' good."

"I heard you."

The leather bound man had taken one of his hands then and placed it at his crotch in testament to his sincerity. With what he would see later with his own eyes, Tom felt with his fingers that Chakotay well equipped enough to carry out his vow.

"Where?"

"I have a ship."

"Let's go."

When he thought back to that moment he wasn't sure if he had been acting for the good of the cause or for the good of Tom Paris. In the end it hadn't mattered. Within fifteen minutes of their conversation at the bar, he had achieved the first directive of his mission and had infiltrated the Maquis ship Crazy Horse. His superiors need not know he done so by way of its captain's bed.

The rest of the night there had been little talking but a lot of grunting and moaning. The darkly sensuous captain had fucked every orifice he had until Tom couldn't speak or walk without discomfort and not for one moment did he stop to think about his mission. Being with Chakotay was too glorious to taint it with trivial things like duty and regained honour. This man was all he needed to give his wayward existence meaning. Or that's what he'd thought until he realized the next morning they were no longer orbiting Nimbus III.

Kidnapping was a violation of Federation treaty but on backwater planets like this, it was rarely enforced or even noticed. Therefore forgotten cultures such as Nimbus III's were easy pickings for Orion pirates looking to restock their harems or Maquis captains shopping for a new helmsman. He was already a prisoner when he was kicked out the warm comfy bed of the captain and shoved in front of the helm and told to fly.

That had been two weeks ago and it had been the last he'd seen of Chakotay's quarters after being regulated to this rat hole of a cabin.

Since then the man that had ravished him so expertly had been distant and cold. No endearments issued forth from those lusciously full lips nor did those deep brown eyes lock on his and beg in quiet desperation for his release. It was as if that one night they had in heaven hadn't existed. For all that, Tom would have called Chakotay a cold-hearted bastard if not for the way he treated his crew.

He loved them and he showed them how much every second of the day. From observation Tom learn that Chakotay was normally a reserved personality. His praise and encouragement might come only with a simple nod of his head or a gentle squeeze to the arm but those simple gestures spoke volumes to his crew. 

The collection of Bajoran refugees, displaced Dorvanians and various other wronged souls that served aboard the Crazy Horse would attack Starfleet central command if the intensive man who commanded their fates asked them to. He made them see the purity in what they were fighting for. They acted without question because he had no pretense or hidden agendas. Chakotay, Tom saw, was incapable of such falsehoods or at least he was when it came to the cause. When it came down to the messy personal stuff, the man was a total fucking idiot. 

"Fuck you Chakotay!"

Slamming his feet against the bulkhead he cursed the sensitive man who was making him hate him and love him at the same time.

It wasn't fucking fair. All he ever wanted to do is find a nice quiet lifestyle with some incredible hunk and drink, play and piss his life away. It really sucked that he'd find that someone he wanted to do that with and that man would not also not give him the time of day but also would have a hard on for the whole fucking universe. Talk about your fucking Paris luck.

He was cursing space, time and whatever came between when his door chime rang.

*******

Tom Paris was a plant.

Chakotay had known that from the moment he'd walked into the bar on Nimbus III but he'd still taken him home anyway.

He'd been hurting for a pilot when low and behold one of the Fleet's best had showed up on the most distant planet in the quadrant. Fair enough, it was one that was a bit tarnished but after reviewing his records, Tom Paris was the type of pilot you didn't throw away because he gotten into a few bad scrapes. He was also young, intelligent and incredibly beautiful. Tom was a keeper and Chakotay couldn't believe that Starfleet wouldn't use those talents to their advantage.

However knowing that, he'd still taken him back to the Crazy Horse and inducted him into service. It had been risk but he had reasoned that it was better to keep your enemy close to your heart where you could see what they were up to then to keep them on the outskirts. It would have been a good plan if he'd had really meant to keep his new pilot as arms length even while taking him to his bed. It hadn't turned out that way.

From the moment he'd touched that pale white flesh with his lips he been lost. Tom Paris had become more than a Starfleet operative to him and a way to gain information. The decadently responsive young man had awoken parts of his inflamed spirit that he thought were already on fire. 

Being a Maquis and all it represented fueled his tortured soul almost to the point of fanatism. Fighting the injustices of the Federation was the mission his father had embarked upon after the Cardassian treaty and after Kolopak's death, he had taken up the gauntlet. This wasn't the life he'd planned for himself. 

Given his head Chakotay would have probably become a history professor at Starfleet academy and not a figurehead for a cause that fought against everything he'd worshipped since he was a boy. As a result, he hurt all the time and it had only been in a traitor's arms he had found solace.

He wanted Tom Paris and Tom Paris wanted his surrender.

After their one and only night together, he had banished the tantalizing pilot to a cubby hole of a cabin and had refused to acknowledge him unless he was giving a course correction. Tom had suffered his indifference stoically, even making a few friends in his outcast state. Even Tuvok, the normally reserved Vulcan had showed some kindness to the new recruit by offering to walk the pernicious blond through the ship's systems.

"Computer, time?"

"It is 0400 hours."

Turning on his side in his large bed, he ran a hand over the spot where Tom's body would fit perfectly. Clutching the spare pillow to his chest, he imagined it the pilot's shoulders and placed a kiss where his collarbone should be.

It was too much. What was he fighting for if it wasn't for a love like this? His was the last cell in a resistance that had been fighting since the Cardassian occupation and they were tired. Gone was the spark that had sustained them so many years ago and while he didn't think they should surrender, he was open to other ways of settling the conflict. Maybe talking with Tom's superiors would be the first step towards peace.

"Chakotay to Paris."

"Paris here."

"My quarters now."

"Ah yes sir, Paris out."

Rolling off the bed, Chakotay headed into the bathroom to splash water on his face and to grab a towel and lube.

While he wanted to solve the problems going on in the demilitarized zone he wasn't such a fool to know that he'd wouldn't have to fuck the young informant first before he'd get anything useful out of him.

Just because he wanted Tom so much he was willing to solve the problems of the whole universe in his name, it didn't mean the younger man wanted the same. Odds were he didn't. Tom was either being paid to be here or he was following in his father's footsteps just as Chakotay was and was on the Crazy Horse because he was fulfilling his duty. It didn't matter which.

Either way, Chakotay would not sleep alone tonight.

*******

It was do or die time.

Tom strode down the halls of the Crazy Horse knowing it was time to give it up for god and country. Only the gods that thought he was working for them were about to be very disappointed. His father and all the other Starfleet brass in cahoots with him were going to soon realize that they'd put their money on the wrong dark horse.

If Chakotay was about to ask for his loyalty, he had it. Tom hadn't been deaf and dumb these last two weeks. Facts that never made it to the general populace over the Fednet had been revealed to him while working with this dedicated crew. Real stories of hardship and strife had replaced the sweetened reports that were broadcast daily over the UFP servers and nothing short of imprisonment was going to stop him from telling the real truth. Tom stopped at the captain's door and his courage waned.

He had fight and spirit now but he still needed heart. With Chakotay at his side he would be complete. Tom knew it was a lot to ask for. A week ago all that mattered to him was where his next mark was coming from and now he wanted to save the world. For any of this to work, he would have to confess to Chakotay everything and that included his shiftless life in Marseilles. Would someone so dedicated understand his previous fruitless existence and not blame him for it? Would he be worthy enough to join his fight? 

"Come."

Tom hadn't even been aware that he'd rung the chime in his anxiety. Steeling himself he strode into the captains quarters.

********

He came.

Not that he wouldn't have, he was after all, the captain but something about the young pilot told him that wouldn't always be the case. In his heart of hearts he knew he'd never be able to tell Tom what to do if he didn't want to.

"Hello."

"Hi."

It was his turn to say something but he didn't know quite to say first. I want you battled with I want to know what you know. While he struggled, Tom took the initiative.

"Can I ask you something?"

The tall beautiful creature that was his unwilling pilot, stood straight and tall beside the bed in his quarters.

"Anything."

"When you fucked me, did you like it?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you ever do it again?"

"Prudence."

"Oh." Tom sat down on the mattress and removed his white tee shirt throwing it across the room. In their previous encounter he had failed to notice the golden hair that peppered his chest and lead downward in an enticing trail.

"What are you doing?"

"Undressing. Baring my all." The pilot lifted his hips and rid himself of the soft gray trouser he'd been wearing and settled himself back down on the mattress, nude as the day he was born. "If you want this, it's yours."

"Tom…-"

"Yeah I know. It's dirtier than you're probably used to."

"No it's not that." Chakotay moved from the end of the bed to sit on its edge beside Tom. "I think you're the most beautiful creature I've ever set on eyes on but I also know you're a siren."

"You're right. I'm here destroy you." 

"Do you want to?"

"No."

"But there are people who expect you to?"

"Yes, one of them being my father but it's not going to happen."

"Why not?" Chakotay leaned forward and ran a hand along the inside of golden furred thigh.

"Oh fuck." Tom fell back against the headboard and opened his legs with his knees up. "Because I want this. I want you."

"You'd give up everything for my touch?"

"Yes, oh yes."

Chakotay sat back and tried to process Tom's words. Only moments before he'd been willing to give up everything for the sensuous blond. However when he heard his own thoughts echoed back to him, he'd become suspicious. His own abrupt change of heart he could deal with. Tom's wasn't so easy to accept because it meant more.

"I have responsibilities Tom."

"I know Chakotay. I see it every day and every day I've been playing along but I can't anymore. I'm a liar."

"How much of one."

"Not that much. I fly your ship because you ask me too. I sleep in a cramped cabin because that's what you want but I haven't since I've arrived here reported back to my superiors. I haven't even tried."

"You should."

"No. Things are different now. Even if you never touch me again, I don't want to leave. I didn't see what was going on before and now I can't ignore it."

"But you will. You can go back and talk to others about what you've seen and maybe we can open a dialogue."

"No they want to kill you and won't be satisfied with anything else."

"You're wrong."

"Maybe." Tom moved forward and touched his cheek. "Until then will you touch me? I think you want to or am I wrong about that too?"

"No."

He had no choice then. The enchanting man on his bed doubted his desire for him and that would never do. Removing his own clothing Chakotay covered Tom with his body and bit small kisses into his neck. His reluctant enemy lifted his entire body up and into his. Beneath his waist he felt Tom's legs uncurl and wrap around his waist. The desire to sink into him was great.

"Fuck me Chakotay."

"I want to but I have to get something…"

"No you don't."

Tom took his hand and placed it at his opening. It was gaping and ready for him.

"I was praying you'd want this so I prepared."

"Oh spirits Tom."

"Whatever, just fuck me."

The time for second guessing and self doubts were over as he plunged deep into the man that would probably change his life forever.

Pushing himself to a completion that had never felt so right and so healthy, Chakotay let himself go completely. There was no concern about his lover's orgasm or whether they would finish together, he just fucked. Somehow he knew that when he reached his orgasm, Tom would find his. That was just the way it was going to be from now on.

When the crescendo hit, he was blown away and collapsed to the side of his new love as not to crush him. Spent and sated he pulled his lover to his side, relishing the feel of his long lanky body against his. He'd been close to drifting off when the comm device in his quarters went off.

"Gerron to Chakotay."

"Go ahead."

"We have a scout on our tail."

"How long before they see us?"

"On this course, eighteen hours."

"Can we change course?"

"Yes but we'll have to go through the strongest of the ion storms."

"Will the ship hold?"

"Yes, but only for an a hour."

"Then were dead."

"It looks that way sir."

"Call me in an hour and we'll work on it. There has to be another way."

"I'm sure there is sir. Gerron out."

Given a respite, he settled back down under the covers and pulled Tom back into his chest. Like he'd been there all his life, the younger man moved into a position that fit his body perfectly.

Sometimes life wasn't fair but in his case it was downright cruel. In less than eighteen hours he would be forced to give up his ship to what Tom described was an uncaring Federation or perish for a cause that nobody could afford to fight anymore. The choice was disheartening and he escaped into sleep hoping the beautiful blond at his side hadn't awakened. Tom stirred and whispering nonsense words into his ears, Chakotay hoped he lulled his lover back to sleep. 

For at least for an hour, he wouldn't have to care.

********

He loved him.

Maybe someday when they met again he could explain how much. If that ever happened.

Tom adjusted the trajectory of the small escape pod, making sure it collided with the Federation scout ship and hoped for the best. With any luck they would ignore the ion trail of the Crazy Horse and go for his vessel. Turning on every emergency frequency the small craft contained, Tom sat back and waited for his rescue.

When they found him, the powers that be would slam his ass in some kind of cage just to keep him out of the way. Oh they wouldn't do it injudiciously, they find some charge, call it treason and make it stick. Nobody would ever know about the deal they'd made or what it was supposed to achieve. They'd hide him away just to make sure. 

Tom had heard through the grapevine that Auckland was fine this time of year.

THE END

(the Sequel to this story is "The Search for Chak)