Tom Paris winced at the reception he incurred as he strode through Voyager's corridors. Several of the crew had been showing him some modicum of politeness but they were the exception rather then the rule. It had been a week since he had last seen the Maquis engineer, B'Elanna Torres, and had in turn been introduced to her left hook. So he had decided to check in and offer his apologies again for his tactless comment.

Stopping outside the door to her quarters, he pressed the buzzer beside the door. He frowned when no response was forthcoming, the computer had confirmed her location a few minutes earlier. He hoped she wasn't wandering around the ship without a commbadge. He wouldn't enjoy assigning disciplinary action if that was the case. Tom was contemplating that particular quandary when a crash from Torres' room shook him violently from his reverie.

"Computer, override security lock. Authorization Paris Delta Four Three Nine Blue."

The door hissed open and Tom rushed in.

* * *

B'Elanna Torres paced her quarters in a frenzy, despite the fact that she was no longer in the brig she found Voyager to be akin to an immense prison. She needed something to do! Growling in frustration she slammed her fist down on the small coffee table that occupied the center of the living area, smashing the fragile piece of furnishing in a thousand pieces.

"Ahhhh!" She let loose in frustration, Dammit. I've done it again!

Her frustration amplified by her loss of control, B'Elanna reached out blindly and grabbed a vase on an end table and flung it blindly in anger. An instant later her rage cleared enough to register that the vase was en route toward the door of her quarters which were now, mysteriously, open. Tom blinked as he stepped into the room, the lights were quite low. From the corner of his eye he saw a blur of movement and turned his head to see what had caused it. The shattering crash snapped B'Elanna back to the present, her face disintegrating into shock as she recognized the face of Tom Paris just after the remnants of the shattered vase swept past him. His look of shock and pain disappeared a moment later as his head was snapped back, pulling his entire body along for the ride. The last view she had of Paris were the soles of his feet as his, now horizontal, body was thrown clear of the doorway and back into the hall. The door hissed shut, obscuring her vision, and was immediately followed by a sickening thud from the corridor.

"Oh my god."

* * *

Tom blinked, his vision clearing as sickbay swam into focus. The holographic doctor was smiling down at him as his waved a dermal regenerator over Tom's face and used his other hand to pull the occasional fragment of the ceramic vase from Tom's tender flesh. "Ouch! Jeez Doc suppose you could grind that in a bit more?"

The hologram merely smiled deeper, "I'm sorry Mr Paris, but I thought you might like having the ‘shrapnel' removed before I healed the abrasions."

‘Sorry my ass, he's enjoying this.' Paris didn't stop to consider that he was thinking about a hologram, so he just ignored the doctor and allowed his ayes to flit around the room. His gaze finally came to rest on the form of a young woman sitting on the biobed across from him.

"Ah!" Tom started, recognizing the cause of his visit to the mad doctor, "What's she doing here?"

The holodoc looked up at the subject of Tom's comment, confused, "She's the one who brought you in, Mr Paris."

Tom looked over at the face of the Maquis engineer, and almost relented his anger. Almost. "She's also the one who beaned me with the... the... what the hell hit me anyway?"

"A vase." Her quiet voice drifted across to him. "It was a Vase."

Paris looked down at himself, taking in the soaked uniform he was wearing, "May I assume that it was a *full* vase?"

Torres nodded quietly.

Tom, much to the the consternation of the Holodoc, began laughing. His peals of laughter echoing through sickbay and well out into the corridors as he completely lost control.

* * *

Ensign Harry Kim and Crewman Michael Sawra looked at each other in confusion at the sounds echoing from Sickbay. The doctor had just called to inform them that Tom Paris had been admitted to sickbay unconscious. The two of them had feared that Tom's reputation among the crew had finally caused someone to take revenge for some slight, real or imagined. The last thing they had expected was the loud laughter that greeted them when the doors to sickbay hissed open.

"Tom?" Harry stepped in hesitantly looking between the three occupants of Sickbay in confusion.

The Doc was completely lost, he seemed to be looking for some neurological reason for his patients apparently insane reaction. Torres, for her part, seemed seem to be growing agitated as Tom curled up in laughter. Tom on the other hand seemed to be having the time of his life. He rolled clear of the biobed and wound up on his knees clutching his stomach in a combination of laughter and pain.

"What happened?" Sawra had cracked a smile, he didn't know what had happened but if Paris was laughing about it he didn't think is was that serious.

B'Elanna flushed, her mouth working silently as she tried to explain but found herself unable to vocalize.

"Ms Torres apparently knocked Mr Paris unconscious with a vase."

Harry's eyes goggled at the doctors matter of fact explaination of the events that had led to his friend kneeling on the floor of sickbay laughing. He looked at Torres in shock.

Sawra managed to resume a straight face before continuing. "What did he say this time?"

Torres blanched, she knew she should say something to defend herself but nothing came to her... Paris hadn't *said* anything. He had just opened the door.

"Hey!" Tom had apparently regained sufficient control to speak. "I didn't say anything. I went to her quarters to apologize again for what i said before. She didn't answer her door so when I heard a crash from inside I overrode the door lock and went in."

Paris paused for a moment before continuing. "Or at least I *tried* to go in," he said thoughtfully.

Harry's face cracked, it was too funny. Sawra on the other hand remained calm, "Do you want to press charges against Ms Torres?"

Tom appeared to consider this for a moment. "No I don't think that's necessary."

"I see. Then I'm going to go back to the Security office." Sawra looked at Tom, "To file a report."

Paris eyed Michael suspiciously, something in his face was wrong, "Sawra, what are you up t-"

Paris stopped in mid word, a terrible thought occurring to him, "You didn't."

Sawra's face finally cracked and he retreated from sickbay at a dead run.

"What the?" Paris sympathized with Harry but couldn't stop to fill him in, not if he wanted to stop Sawra.

Torres, Kim, and the Holodoc stood together for moment staring at the closed doors for several seconds before Harry and B'Elanna looked at each other in confusion and took of in pursuit.

The doctor stared dumbfounded at the, now closed, door to sickbay. "Why doesn't anybody ever turn off the program?"

* * *

Harry and B'Elanna caught up with Paris at the door to the security offices. He was banging on the unyielding door with his fists and shouting, "Sawra, open this door you bastard! I won't let you do it!"

Harry found himself staring dumbly at two junior members of the security detail who had just come around the corner to find their newly appointed ‘captain' cursing his acting chief of security through a locked door.

Paris noticed the two crewmen out of the corner of his eye and immediatly calmed down, "As you were, crewmen."

The two security officers looked at each other helplessly, "Uh sir, we have to get into security. It's our shift."

Paris looked at them, "Take a walk. Come back in ten minutes."

The two looked at each other, then both looked to Harry, whether for confirmation or a countermand Tom didn't know. He didn't wait to find out.

"I said take a walk, crewmen. Now." They shrugged, a ten-minute break they could blame on Paris wasn't any skin of their backs, and left the area. Once they were out of sight Harry stepped over to Tom.

"Tom? What's going on?"

Paris stared at Harry in disbelief. "Havn't you figured it out?"

The look of confusion on Harry and B'Elanna's face answered his question, "He had her under surveillance, Harry."

B'Elanna's face lit up with fury, her whole form shaking with anger as the implication hit her. Sawra had been *watching* her!

Harry on the other hand broke down. Withing seconds he was on his knees, mirroring his friend's actions in sickbay earlier, his laughs booming through the hall.

"It's not funny!," Tom and B'Elanna yelled simultaneously at the helpless ensign.

Just as Harry had managed to pull himself under control the trio heard booming laughter come from the other side of the security door. Tom had finally collected his wits enough to remember that he was, after all, the Captain.

"Computer, override security lock. Paris Delta Four Three Nine Blue."

The door hissed open, admitting the trio to the security office in time to see an obviously debilitated Sawra and three security crewmen with tears running down their cheeks. At the sight of Paris, the group of them burst out laughing again, much to the chagrin of their ‘Captain'.

* * *

Captains Log, Stardate 48321.3, Acting Captain Thomas Paris recording.

I have elected not to enter any reprimands or censures in Crewman Sawra's file concerning the incident report I made for this Stardate. It would appear to be a petty attempt to exercise authority with malice to most of the crew and, in all truth, no harm has been done. I would like to note that security has been 'mysteriously' unable to stop the sale of this video to the crew. My pride may have taken a hit but Sawra managed to soothe that by sharing his illicitly gotten replication rations with me and Ms Torres. Ironically enough, tensions have lowered considerable since the incident and I find that a considerable portion of the crew have warmed to me. Ms Torres, much to my chagrin, is enjoying a sudden boom of popularity however and has been seen socializing considerably more since the incident. On a possibly unrelated note, Crewman Sawra has been experiencing mysterious breakdowns of basic service ever since the incident. The Engineering department has had no luck discovering the cause of the disruptions, and I don't expect them to. I feel quite fortunate that Crewman Sawra admitted that the surveillance on our Maquis guest was on his own initiative, otherwise I suspect I would also be experiencing similar problems.

* * *

"Did you hear what he did?"

"No, what?"

"I heard he was putting the moves on her and she broke a vase over his head."

"Naw, if he had tried that she'd have killed him. She is half-Klingon."

"Maybe *she* was putting the moves on him... You know how rough *they* are supposed to be."

Guffaws and mocking laughter swept around the table at that comment, The newly created mess hall was getting a true christening by the early morning crowd.

Tom Paris had followed the wafting smell through the halls until he finally stumbled across the busy room. He stood there for a long moment listening to the gossip that filled the room before he decided that he'd better announce himself before one them noticed him.

"Neelix! What's going on here?"

A low hush suddenly swept over the room as they noted Tom's appearance. Neelix rushed out of his makeshift kitchen looking eagerly to greet the new arrival.

"Tom! Glad to see you. Come in, come in. Here have some soup, a little breakfast roll maybe?"

Tom found himself being drawn inexorably into Neelix's web, try though he might to avoid it, Neelix what is this? Who gave you authorization to turn the Captain's private dining room into a mess hall??"

Neelix looked abashed, "Private dining room? This is your priv-"

Tom cut him off, "No, this is not *my* private dining room. It's the Captain's, and you'd better be thankful she's in a coma right now cause I don't think she'd be terribly pleased."

Suddenly the crew within earshot found a dozen different things to occupy their attention, none of them wanted to be associated with Neelix's project if it wasn't authorized.

"Hey, Neelix, I got that converter adjusted. Why don't you try your stove now?"

Tom looked over at Neelix's kitchen in time to see a very dirty B'Elanna Torres climb up from, behind Neelix's kitchen counter, "Oh, hi, Paris."

By this point Tom was rubbing his temple, "B'Elanna Torres, what where you doing under there?"

"Oh, I asked her to help me out. She is an engineer and since she's not allowed in Engineering, I thought-"

Paris glared at Neelix for a moment, "We'll talk about your misappropriation of space and resources later, Neelix." Paris sighed, "I think I need a cup of coffee."

Neelix perked up, "I've got something here that better then coffee, Mr Paris."

Paris looked at him suspiciously, "All right let's see it."

Paris winced when Neelix poured him a cup of sludge and handed it over to him. "Maybe I'll just use one of my replication credits."

Suddenly Neelix was looking at him very intently, "Oh that wouldn't be proper, sir."

"Excuse me?"

"You're the Captain. You have to set a good example."

Tom laughed out loud and went over to a replicator, "Coffee with cream, double sweet," and walked out of the room with his cup. He was heard to be muttering something about the ship being in big trouble if they started following his example, leaving a very confused and flustered Neelix in his wake.

* * *

B'Elanna watched Tom Paris stride out of the room, feeling something akin to pity for the man. He was trying to maintain a command structure on a ship that had no respect for him. Hell, the crew didn't even like him much. It was going to be a hard trip for him. And it wasn't going to be a piece of cake for her either. She had been under Neelix's counter for the better part of three hours and had gone unnoticed by the crew the Talaxian had talked into coming in for breakfast. Three hours of listening to them talk about her putting Paris in sickbay, for a different reason every time. Three hours of shaking in fury under the counter and telling herself that Paris had enough trouble without having to deal with a dozen seriously injured crewmen and one maquis engineer in the brig for assault.

In hindsight, Sawra's surveillance video would probably be a blessing. It would certainly be embarrassing, but at least it would quell the rumors about her and Paris once it got around. Besides, B'Elanna grinned to herself, after spending the morning in Neelix's kitchen I'll be more then happy to take my cut of Sawra's profits.

* * *

Tom Paris strode onto the bridge, visions of Neelix and his homebaked kitchen swirling in his mind. After that sludge Neelix had tried to pass off as coffee, Tom winced at the thought of eating anything else he cooked. ‘Unfortunately it might not be up to me. We need a communal dining arraignment and Starfleet doesn't exactly teach haute cuisine at the academy.'

"Mr Paris, we've just picked up a series of radio signals originating from a nearby star system."

Tom blinked, radio?, "Radio Ensign?"

"Yes. Relatively low frequency transmissions," Jetal replied.

"I see, anything of interest?"

"Not certain yet. The Universal translator is still decoding them."

"Ok, let me know if anything of note turns up. Are we close enough to scan the system?"

Jetal keyed in a few commands. "Yes."

"Onscreen."

A moment later the screen was filled with an image of a blue brown world, beautiful by any standards.

"Lovely." Tom's voice was quietly reverent.

Everyone on the bridge was staring at the world in a similar fashion, "Just like earth. Isn't it?"

Jetal snorted, "Not unless the Federation recently repealed the Polaric test ban treaty."

"What?"

"That world uses massive amounts of Polaric particles to supply its energy requirements."

"Oh." Paris had a strange feeling about the whole conversation. "What is their stage of technical development?"

"Pre-warp."

Paris turned on Jetal, somewhat frustrated. "Then why did you bring them to my attention? We can't even enter their system without breaking regulations."

Jetal looked at Paris with thinly disguised contempt. "I only gave you a status report on the radio signals we intercepted. You are the one who asked about the planet of origin."

Paris stepped very close to Ensign Jetal and spoke in a soft voice, "Ensign Jetal, how often do we cross through radio signals?"

Jetal lost some of her smugness, "Normally several times per day. You know that."

"Yes, I do. And I also know that it is standard practice to inform the CO *only* when the information is of tactical or scientific interest. Any further lapses of this nature and I will be forced to discuss your behavior with Ensign Kim."

Jetal's face dropped, Ensign Kim was her direct supervisor and unlike Paris she respected his opinion, "Understood... Sir."

Tom looked her carefully in the eye before continuing, "Good. Now, I understand your duty shift is over in a few minutes?"

"Yes, it is."

"Consider yourself relieved. I'll stand your station until Ensign Kim arrives for his shift."

Jetal swallowed once and glanced around the bridge for help, but she saw only expressions of curiosity on the faces of the bridge staff. Belatedly, she realized that Paris hadn't, in fact, berated her in public. He had taken care to keep his comments between them. Just like any good commanding officer.

Jetal stepped off the bridge and Paris calmly stepped up to her station, Let's see just what was in that radio signal we picked up. Tom was still watching the decoding signal when Harry stepped up behind him and relieved him from the station, "Tom, what happened to Jetal? I saw her coming off the lift. She wasn't happy."

Tom whispered back to him, "I'll tell you later. Don't worry about it."

Harry watched Tom return to the Captains chair and assume command of the bridge from Lt Rawlins. He figured there was a story there somewhere, ‘I just hope Tom decides to let me in on it.'

Over the next few hours Tom ran three of Voyager's pilots through a series of qualifying trials while Sawra drilled three of his security men in the operations of Voyager's tactical station.

"No, Baytart. You have to anticipate where the Tactical Officer needs to be. Combat it not about hotdogging the ship around. Evading enemy fire is less important then achieving tactical superiority."

The Ensign turned on Paris, flushed in anger, "Good flying is avoiding fire. If we don't get hit we don't die!"

Paris stood his ground and replied calmly, "You can't win a battle if your scared to take a few hits. Avoiding the enemy's fire serves no purpose if you can't provide your tactical officer with clear shot. Sooner or later the bandits will wear you down and then you, your friends, and your entire ship dies. Now take your station and do it again."

Baytart glared at Paris a moment longer before turning back to his station and Tom ran them through the drill again.

"Better." Several drills later Paris relented, "Baytart, you're relieved, go down to Neelix's mess hall and get something to eat. Report to holodeck two in an hour and run the Academy simulator program. Start at level twelve and work your way up."

Tom turned to the other five officers who had participated in the drills, "Same for the rest of you. Pair up and run piloting/tactical drills in half hour shifts for the duration of Alpha shift."

Tom watched the six men and women file off the bridge then walked over to the tactical station. "There's a couple in that group with a lot of piloting potential. Baytart is very good, but he really needs some perspective."

Sawra glanced at the closed turbolift, "I think perspective is one thing we'll be able to provide in spades out here, Tom. I have to admit, though, that I'm surprised to hear you advocating teamwork, your reputation has always been that of a hotshot pilot."

Tom flashed him a grin, "I am a hotshot pilot. A better one you won't find anywhere in *this* quadrant I'll warrant. But it's a simple truth Sawra, in combat a starship pilot's duty is to provide the tactical officer with the best possible shot at the target. It's not his job to worry about damage control, shield integrity, or even battle strategy. That's the Captain's duty."

Paris winced at his own remark. "Speaking of which, were you aware of Neelix's... alterations... to the Captain's dining hall?"

Sawra looked at Paris in confusion. "Alterations?"

"It apears we have a new mess hall."

Sawra winced. "The Captain is going to flay us alive when she wakes up."

Tom just nodded and went back to the center chair. I know. Oh lord do I know it.

Back in the Captain's chair Paris killed the rest of alpha shift going over B'Elanna Torres' dossier in the Starfleet security database. It made for fascinating reading he noted. Apparently the rumors he heard while in the Maquis were correct, she had an amazing aptitude for her chosen vocation according to her Academy records. Two years, most of her courses were rated at extreme levels of difficulty, and she had managed to score in the top percentile on all her technical courses. Her command scores, however, left a lot to be desired. Her academy mentor had finally recommended to her that she consider another career option when she broke the arm of another cadet on a field assignment she was commanding.

Ouch. Wonder what he did to attract her attention? Paris scrolled down the line to the intelligence available on her time in the Maquis. A long low whistle escaped his lips before he could stop it, attracting the attention of everyone on the bridge. "Sawra, come over here for a moment."

When the big man had taken the seat to Tom's right he showed him what he had found. "Look at this, Starfleet intelligence had everything on her. Hell, we have some of her daily logs from the Liberty stored in our database. There's even a tactical report on the growth of her apparent command skills since leaving the academy."

Sawra looked over what Tom pointed out. "Spy?"

"Gotta be. The fleet must have gotten an infiltrator aboard Chakotay's ship. The guy was impeccable in his data gathering too. Look at this, we even have relationships listed here, favorite foods, a list of her solutions to engineering problems faced by the Maquis. Speaking of which, she is very good. Look at this one."

"Stardate 48201.6, the Liberty was caught in a class four Ion storm?" Sawra looked up in wonder. "How'd they survive that? Voyager couldn't ride out a class four."

"I know. She managed to align their shield frequency to the eye of the storm. They hid inside the calm of the eye until the storm disipated around them. According to these records, three Cardassian Galor class warships were destroyed while pursuing them through that same storm."

"You think we're wasting a resource?"

"I think we're wasting genius. If it wasn't for that temper, I'd probably put her in charge of Engineering."

Sawra winced, "I don't think that would go over very well."

Tom nodded. "I know. What I'll do instead is assign her to engineering as a civilian consultant and strongly advise Carey to listen to her. We'll see how that works out and then we can justify any decision we need to make."

* * *

Captain's Log Supplemental, Thomas Paris Reporting.

I approached Ms Torres with a request that she work in Engineering as a civilian consultant for the time being. She finally agreed to the request when I assured her that I would speak with Lt Carey and convince him that she should be paid attention too. While I think that Mr Neelix is going to miss her help in his various endeavors I think I'll breathe easier knowing that she won't be helping him with any more kitchen projects.

On other ship's business, I think that I'll assign Ensign Pablo Baytart to the position of Chief Helmsman, assuming he completes the Academy piloting finals on the Holodeck. He is young for this position but in point of fact the entire crew are little more the academy graduates.

* * *

Pablo Baytart swung Voyager around in a tight loop, bringing the nimble ship in close to the D'deridex Class cruiser while his friend O'Neal began firing the ship's phasers in prescision bursts, targeting the Romulan's engines and weapons array. When the big Romulan ship began firing back, he twisted Voyager into a tight roll that evaded most of the enemy fire.

"Pablo! I lost the shot!"

"Hang on Ryan, I'll get us back in as soon as I have an opening!"

Twisting the ship through the barrage of Romulan fire Baytart flipped the ship away from the enemy cruiser, taking only light hits to the shields while he brought the ship around for another pass.

"Pablo! Shields are down thirty percent!"

"I'm taking her in, Attack pattern beta five!"

O'Neal quickly entered the commands into his board, anticipating where the Phaser emitters would be in a few moments. The ship banked hard and dove in on the Romulan cruiser, suddenly abandoning the preset plan as Pablo spun the ship into a tight barrel roll and came in under the Romulan's ship. Ryan O'Neal cursed as his preset subroutines were rendered worthless and he struggled to adjust. Five minutes later Voyager's bridge shimmered and vanished around them, leaving them standing in the empty holodeck.

"Program Ended. Log and scores have been forwarded to Captain Paris."

"Great, just perfect. Pablo, the last thing I need is Paris on my case. I don't know about you but I don't personally enjoy getting stripped down by an ex-con," O'Neal paused for moment, frustrated, "Especially when he's *right*."

Baytart flushed defensively. "What are you blaming me for? Your the one who missed that last shot I lined up for you!"

"You called attack pattern Beta Five! What was that barrel roll you threw in?"

"I was evading fire!"

O'Neal looked at him for a long moment. "We almost had them. If you'd just given me the shot you told me to prepare for we would have won. Paris was right, you have to take the occasional punch if it means getting in the right position to win the fight."

"Yeah like Paris is one to talk. He's the biggest hotdog the academy has ever see-"

O'Neal shut him up with a glare, "Don't you talk to me about Tom Paris. I was manning tactical when we went against the Kazon, and he got me the shots I needed to defend this ship. We took some hits sure, but we got out in one piece and with the Captain back on board where she's supposed to be." Ryan looked around the holodeck. "And we went up against a lot more then one ship."

Baytart glared at O'Neal and left the holodeck in a hurry, Ryan sighed and walked off after him.

* * *

"No I don't know what Neelix said but I'm telling you Paris laughed in his face."

"So what? Have you talked to Neelix yet? He's nuts. I have a hard time keeping a straight face myself."

"Even Neelix didn't deserve this kind of laugh. That was the most mocking laughter I've ever heard."

"And nobody knows what Neelix said?"

"I do."

Everyone at the table shut up instantly, B'Elanna Torres intimidated them and they weren't sure whose side she would be on. A long moment passed before anyone spoke up.

"So what did Neelix say?" Jetal was still angry with Paris over the incident on the bridge.

"He suggested that Paris drink his coffee substitute to set a good example for the crew." B'Elanna wasn't sure why she was telling these people anything but she decided to continue. "Paris laughed in his face, got his coffee from the replicator, and walked off saying that the whole crew was in trouble if they started looking to him as a role model. He wasn't laughing at Neelix," Belanna finished. "He was laughing at himself."

The table was quiet for long moments before Jetal spoke again, deflecting the subject to a more comfortable area, "So, B'Elanna, how is it going in Engineering?"

* * *

Captain's log, Stardate 48324.1 Thomas Paris recording.

Despite the added savings of Neelix's new mess hall and the rationing on the replication systems, Voyager's power supplies are being diminished at an appalling rate. Even considering Ms. Torres energy conservation techniques in engineering and the saving from the lower decks we were able to shut down we find ourselves with a rapidly growing energy crisis.

Mr Neelix suggested an area that would probably have the raw dilithium we require to reenergize the damaged systems that have been draining our energy. He did, however, warn me that the area is largely controlled by a black market organization that tends to operate above the local law. Apperantly even the Kazon are careful not to cross these people. Despite misgivings I allowed Sawra to take a security detail to the surface of the planet to initiate negotiations for raw Dilithium crystals, and any other materials on the want list provided by Lt Carey and B'Elanna Torres.

* * *

Captain's Log, Stardate 48324.9 Thomas Paris recording.

At approximately 17:34 hours ships time, three hours after the away team left, we received an emergency distress beacon from Sawra's transponder patch. Without better intelligence on the surrounding area I decided not to risk sending in a second away team but rather to take Voyager out from behind the small moon we had been using for cover and see if a show of force would be sufficient to deal with the problem. I have to admit that it is gratifying to know that the appearance of a Federation starship is just as respected in the Delta Quadrant as back home. The pirates had, apparently, not expected having to deal with a vessel of Voyager's capabilities. Unfortunately I think we may have established a reputation today that will haunt us for a good portion of our journey.

* * *

"I'm telling you, you should have seen the *look* on the pirate captain's face when Voyager appeared on his screens!" Sawra was having difficulty keeping a straight face, "He almost shot his operations officer just for relaying the message."

"Jeez, Sawra, don't mention that to Paris," Harry Kim was pleading, "The last thing I need is him getting any ideas like that."

The group around the table laughed. "Where is Paris anyway? I'd have thought he'd enjoy listening to your tales of adventure."

Sawra looked over at the crewman, "Naw, he's recording his log and incident report. He's been pretty faithful to Starfleet regs concerning stuff like that."

The crewman snorted. "Who'd ever believe it? Not only do we got stuck with a traitor to the fleet as a Captain but he turns out to be a stickler for the regs!"

Everyone around the table but Sawra and Kim laughed. Harry just stared at the crewman but Sawra locked eyes with him and spoke, "Don't you *ever* insult the Captain again, especially in the presence of his senior staff."

The crewman looked at him in disbelief. "You can't be serious Michael. The only reason Paris isn't in the brig is cause he's the only one the computer will release the command codes to. We all know that."

Only two of the others around the table indicated their agreement, the rest watched Sawra carefully to see where he stood.

Sawra's voice grew cold. "Your wrong there crewman. Paris was in command of this ship from the instant the Captain was injured. Ask Harry, he was on the bridge at the time."

Harry nodded. "He's right. Tom took command from the start. Long before we knew we'd need codes. Chances are we'd have lost the Captain if he hadn't."

The crewman snorted. "We may as well have. Janeway's in sickbay, and she hasn't moved in weeks."

This time it was Harry who responded. "You watch it, mister. She's still the Captain and she deserves better then for you talk about her like she's dead."

The crewman at least had the sense to look embarrassed, after all insulting the ex-con was one thing but they all had looked up to Captain Janeway. "All I'm saying is that Paris doesn't have any right to be where he is. He's a traitor to Starfleet and the Federation, and doesn't belong in command of this vessel."

Sawra stood up. "I don't know if you noticed it yet, but we're a long way from the Federation. And the simple fact is that so far we all owe our lives to Paris, and if I recall, crewman, you were on the away mission with me. The mission that went sour until Tom showed up and pulled us out. Show some gratitude even if you won't show any respect."

Sawra spun on his heel and strode out the door, followed immediately by Harry Kim, and two men from the away mission in question. Those who were left behind looked at each other with a mixture of confusion and anger. "What's up with him? He can't seriously think Tom Paris is a good captain?"

No one answered.

* * *

Two weeks after Sawra's away mission Voyager was cruising through a relatively empty section of space when Ensign Kim noticed something on his board.

"Tom, we have multiple inbound ships. The read out as Kazon."

"Yellow Alert. How many Harry?"

"Three. No wait, four. No shields, and their weapons systems are not powered."

"Stand down from phasers and photons. Hail them."

Harry tapped a command on his console, "Onscreen."

Paris looked up at the view screen, mildly surprised that it wasn't the Kazon Maj he met on the Ocampan homeworld. Standing up, he greeted the man. "Greetings. I'm Tom Paris, commanding officer of Voyager."

The Kazon stared at him for a moment. "I know who you are. I'm Maj Cullah of the Kazon Nistrum."

"Nice to meet you, Maj Cullah. May we be of some service?"

Sawra almost smiled, in Tom's place he'd have already started snapping at the Kazon.

"We are here to discuss a matter of certain repayments that you owe the Nistrum for your involvements in the Caretaker incident." Cullah almost bit out the word *incident*.

"I see," only a flicker of emotion was seen on Tom's face before he slapped a pleasant mask into place, "and exactly what do you feel we did that would warrant *repayment*?"

Cullah's eyes snapped back to Paris when he heard how precisely the man in red pronounced the word *repayment*, "You caused the loss of five of our ships and over two hundred loyal members of the Nistrum."

"Your vessel's attacked us Maj Cullah."

"You're intervention also resulted in the Nistrum's loss of the Array."

Paris watched Cuallah through narrowed eyes, the man was up to something, "The Caretaker initiated a self destruct Cullah. We had nothing to do with that."

Cullah stared at him cooly, "So you refuse our request for repayment."

Cullah didn't give Tom and chance to respond, he just said one word that was garbled by the universal translator and then looked back at Paris with a smile that sent a shiver up Tom's spine. Tom half turned to Harry and gave him a signal.

"Audio cut."

"Good. Harry, he's up to something, step up the scans. I want shields up the second we get so much as a twitch from their weapons systems."

"Aye Sir." Harry looked back down to his board. "Nothing not a... Damn! Incoming multiple transports! Decks twelve, fiften, three,"

Harry was interupted by the blue shimmer of the transporter effect directly in front of the Captain's chair. Tom surged up, swinging hard as the Kazon soldier appeared in front of him and connecting solidly on the man's newly materialized jaw. As the man went down he saw other blue shimmers appear around the bridge.

"Paris!"

Paris heard Sawra's yell and held out is hand, intercepting the tossed phaser in mid air. "Computer, Intruder Alert!"

Cullah watched his silent screen as the human Captain caught the weapon in mid air an turned it on the materializing Kazon soldiers. Voyager's shields had sprung up a moment earlier, killing a half dozen of his men who were in mid transport and stopping him from using the transporter device to send any more soldiers to take the ship. A moment ago he thought that thirty armed Kazon would be enough to take the unsuspecting humans. Now, as he watched the blond human shoot another soldier while another human dressed in gold finished off two more, he wasn't so certain.

"Paris to Engineering."

"Engineering?" Tom tapped his badge again, "Engineering?!?"

"Bridge, this is security team three. The intruders have taken Engineering. They've got some type of scrambler erected around most of the deck. We can't beam through it."

"Sawra get down there, we need to resecure Engineering. Harry, lock out the engineering controls and redirect them to the bridge. Who do we have available to man the engineering station?"

Harry entered several commands before shaking his head and looking up, "No one, Tom, they're all caught on secured decks or in Engineering itself."

"Damn," Tom cursed before a thought occured to him, "What about Torres?"

Kim looked surprised, then embarrassed as he checked his console, "She's in her quarters, outside the security zones."

"Torres to the Bridge! Ms Torres report immediately to the bridge!"

Paris looked around, his eyes flicking to the viewscreen for a brief moment before he turned his attention to Harry, "Harry, don't look at the viewscreen. Just nod if our audio connection is off."

Harry nodded tersely, just realizing that he hadn't closed Culah's channel.

"Ok, yell at me. Look as scared and nervous as possible. Tactical?"

Tom's voice and demeanor was suddenly very sharp, as if in fury, his eyes flicked over to the man standing in Sawra's place. "Slam your fist into your board and look very angry. But try not to damage the systems."

Maj Cullah watched the man he knew to be Tom Paris yell at one of his officers, enjoying it immensely when he man in gold snapped back. The man looked frightened to Cullah, and Paris looked furious. Cullah's attention was drawn to the man standing on the left a moment later when the man hauled back and hit his station in frustration, causing a smile to pull at Cullah's face as he read the success of his operation in the face of the Voyager's command crew.

Tom saw the glint of a smile on the Maj's face and looked up at the man on the screen with a scowl on his face, snapping at Harry with angry gestures a moment later, "Get that bastard off my screen!"

When the screen went black, Tom's angry demeanor melted away in seconds, "All right, that should keep him from making any rash moves for the next few minutes. Whats latest from security?"

Crewman O'Neal, trying valiantly to hold back a bout of laughter, replied, "Sawra just called in that he has most of the Kazon intruders in a makeshift holding area in cargo bay one. They still have control of Engineering though. We've blocked several attempts to access our main systems already, but the teams on site can't get inside yet."

Tom acknowledged the report and turned back to Harry but was distracted by B'Elanna stepping onto the bridge.

"Whats going on?" She sounded frustrated.

"The Kazon decided to welcome us to the quadrant properly. I need you to handle the engineering station B'Elanna, Carey and the others are still inside security zones we had to set to contain the Kazon."

B'Elanna's eyes widened, "The Kazon? What do they have against Voyager?"

Tom followed her with her eyes as she took the Engineering station, "I don't know, but thats not what worries me. Harry send B'Elanna the readings on their transporters. I want to know how the hell they got that technology."

"Transporters?" B'Elanna looked up at Tom. "The Kazon don't have transporters."

Tom's mouth quirked, "Tell that to Engineering."

"Oh. Right." B'Elanna turned back to the engineering board and started tapping commands.

"Harry, keep an eye on those ships. Cullah's going to get suspicious if his people don't report some progress pretty soon."

"Aye, Tom."

Paris slipped back into the command chair. "All right, Crewman I need a tactical report on those ships out there. Transfer it to my database as soon as you get it compiled. B'Elanna?"

"Yes?"

"Keep an eye on anything that comes out of the engineering systems. We've routed everything through the bridge terminals but you know as well as I do that several key systems are hardlined through Engineering."

"All right. I'll keep them out."

Tom smiled. "I know you will. In the meantime Bring the phasers and photons up to standby, Ensign Tam?"

The young woman in blue at the helm half turned, "Yes sir?"

"Enter evasive pattern gamma three into the con and place it on standby. We're going to have to make a run for it before this is over."

The woman gulped nervously. "Gamma Three, Aye Sir."

A few minutes passed while the crew rushed through their preparations, and Paris was forced to wait and watch as Sawra's casualty and status reports came across his terminal. Tom just tried to remain calm as he watched the four Kazon ships outside maneuver around Voyager, trying to box her in without getting too close. A moment later he saw his chance when one of the ships retroed slightly and gave Voyager an opening.

"Tactical, full power to all weapons. Helm engage evasive maneuvers at three quarters impulse on my mark," He half turned, "B'Elanna get ready, its going to get rough and we'll need you on your toes for this one. Ensign Tam, mark!"

Voyager shot out of the Kazon formation without warning, twisting and curling around the lead ship, scraping within twenty meters of Cullah's ship. Collision and proximity alarms blare through both vessels as Voyager straightened and suddenly went to full impulse and shot away from the four flying vultures that had encircled it.

"Tom! The warp engines are offline!"

"What? How?"

"I don't know, they dropped off as soon as we went to impulse."

"Get them back!" Tom didn't bother to turn around.

"I'm working on it!"

She sounds pissed. Good. We'll need that, Paris watched as the Kazon ships engaged a pursuit course. When two of them flickered out of sight he knew they had gone to warp and would be waiting for Voyager ahead, "Helm change course to vector one twenty eight mark five!"

Voyager dove sharply as it changed to its new course, forcing its pursuers to follow suit and leaving the two that jumped to warp well behind for the moment.

"B'Elanna I need those engines!"

"I'm trying! I can't fix anything from here, I can only reroute power through systems that aren't down," B'Elanna growled as she desperately entered commands into the system."

The Kazon ships had caught up and began firing on Voyager as Tom realized that it was useless to run, "Helm, reverse course. Initiate attack pattern beta two. Tactical, lock and fire at will."

Voyager arced about in an elegant turn and charged into the center of the enemy formation, splitting the two Kazon ships as it flashed between them, firing phases from all banks on its way by.

"Sawra to Paris."

"Paris here. Whats the situation down there?"

"We just regained control of some of the secondary systems on this deck. We can pump the place full of anesthezine, if you order it."

Tom thought for a brief moment, "Harry how many Engineers do we have outside Engineering now?"

"Not many, only a handful... and some of those are being treated in Sickbay."

"B'Elanna do you think you can get the warp drive online from Engineering?"

B'Elanna looked at him, nervous but eager to be able to do something other then fight a computer, "Yes, as long as we have at least a skeleton crew down there."

"All right. Harry, contact anybody on board who can lend a hand down there. I want enough people to bring Engineering back online the second security has the Kazon in custody." Tom then tapped his commbadge, "Sawra, do it. I want Engineering cleared in five minutes."

"Aye sir."

Tom turned back to B'Elanna, "What are you waiting for? Engineering is yours. Go."

She smiled slightly and shot off the bridge.

"Harry, inform them that B'Elanna has command of Engineering. I don't want a power struggle getting us killed. Have Sawra back her up if she needs it."

"Aye sir."

Meanwhile the Kazon had regrouped from their previous skirmish and were again pounding Voyager's shields with phaser fire.

"All right, lets play it their way. Tactical, lock onto the lead ship. Target their engines, and prepare to fire a full salvo of torpedoes. Helm, take us about and plot attack pattern alpha three. Go!"

Voyager broke hard to port and flew a tightly banked curve as it entered an intercept course for the lead Kazon cruiser. Flying an erratic course the starfleet vessel evaded most of the incoming fire as her forward torpedo launchers were slowly brought to bear on her Kazon foe. Just before she pased over the Kazon ship Voyager opened up with a salvo of torpedoes that slammed remorselessly into their target. The nimble Starfleet ship glided smoothly over the kazon ship, which was now adrift and burning from a dozen fires along its dark surface.

"Yes! All right, let's hope that makes them think twice. Bring us around and hail Maj Cullah."

Harry worked at his board for a moment, "On screen."

The, rather irate, Kazon Maj glared back at Paris from his bridge. "What do you want Human?"

"I want you to come to your senses before I'm forced to destroy you. You're down by one ship. Your boarding party has been taken by my security details. And in a few minutes I'm going to lose what little patience I have left and I'm going to wipe your ships out of existence."

Tom matched the Kazon's glare as he rose from his seat and stood angrily addressing the alien.

The other crew on the bridge looked studiously down at their consoles, trying desperately not to betray the shock they felt at Tom's words. Even with the Kazon's relatively low technology a three on one fight wasn't good odds.

Cullah wasn't buying it either, "I still outnumber you, Human. And your technology is not *that* impressive."

With that Cullah cut the transmission and the screen went black.

"Damn. I wanted to keep him on longer then that."

"Paris! They coming in on an attack vector!"

"Lock phasers onto the lead ship and prepare to open fire! Helm, take us in at full impulse, pattern gamma two!"

Voyager rocked from side to side, presenting a difficult profile to hit as it flashed in at the advancing Kazon ships. Still with three vessels firing continuously, enough shots got through to wreak havok on the ship's systems, causing overloads and showers of sparks to erupt from unshielded eps relays. As she slid in closer, Voyager opened up with its phasers, raking the Kazon vessel's full length as she glided by underneath.

"Their shields are almost out. One more pass and we can scratch that ship from the fight."

Tom just nodded, "All right, helm, bring us around for a second pass. Don't sweat the fire Tam, just keep us on course and let Crewman O'Neal do his job."

The young ensign nodded silently a she bit her lower lip and entered the commands into the helm, bringing Voyager around for another pass through the Kazon gauntlet.

"Torres to Paris."

Tom slapped his badge. "What is it?"

"We just got warp power online. We've started on damage control now."

"Excellent, Keep at it, Torres, we're going to need it before this is over. I'm going to have the Doctor start waking our people and sending them down to you, you're to stay in charge for the time being however. Good luck"

"Understood, Torres out."

Tom watched the Kazon ship on his screen get bigger and bigger, abruptly realizing that everyone on the bridge was staring at him, "What?"

"Uh, Tom, we aren't going to warp?"

Paris shook his head. "No, I've changed my mind. I wan't to know how these Kazon got ahold of transporter technology. And to do that we have to fight. Stay on course."

Voyager, having completed its turn, swept by the weakened Kazon ship and raked it with phasers. The Kazon's shields crumpled and its engines caught a heavy blast, crippling the ship. Voyager was pulling away when something happened causing the Kazon vessel to go up in flames, obliterating the ship.

Paris was silent for a moment, then spoke coldly, "Hail Maj Cullah."

"The channels open, Tom, but he's not responding."

"Can he hear me?"

When Harry nodded Paris continued, "This is Tom Paris calling Maj Cullah. Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded."

The angry face of the Maj came on the screen. "I will not allow you on my ship."

"You have no choice Cullah. Its now one on one and you're no match for Voyager. If you try to run I'll hunt you to the rim of the galaxy. If you try to fight, I'll blow you and your ship out of existence. Surrender now and you will be allowed to leave once we have finished."

"Finished what?" Cullah glared back suspiciously.

"Examining your ships."

"Why?"

"That is no longer any of your concern Cullah. You forfeited that right when you attack my ship and injured my crew."

Harry spoke up. "Tom, they're powering engines."

"Lock onto their engines and fire on my command," Tom paused and looked back to the angry Kazon. "Your ship can't outrun Voyager. Your ship can't out fight Voyager. Be smart, Cullah, I don't care about you or your people. If I have to destroy you I will."

The kazon just looked at him for a brief moment, and suddenly *deflated* in his seat. "All right Paris. You win this time."

"They just powered down their weapons and lowered their shields,"

Harry relayed to Tom.

"Good. Maj, I'll have a team sent over immediatly. Don't interfere with them."

When Cullah growled his agreement Paris signaled Harry and cut the channel, "Harry, I need you to lead the away team. Take whoever you need plus a full security detail. I want every piece of that ship scanned and its computer memory downloaded. If you find so much as a tricorder, I want it confiscated."

Harry looked at him and nodded, "Aye Captain."

* * *

Captains log, Stardate 48331.6, Tom Paris reporting.

Ensign Kim just returned from the last Kazon ship with some mixed news. From the Kazons own computers we know that they don't have any more Federation technology on other ships. Only Maj Cullah's vessel was equipped with any Federation equipment, and that has all been confiscated. Apparently Cullah was a little too ambitious for his own good, assuming that with a little bit of our advanced technology he could take Voyager by surprise and consolidate the technical superiority of the Nistrum sect over the other Kazon sects. Luckily for us he underestimated the crew of Voyager. In all we took two transport units, a replicator, three hand phasers, and two tricorders from Cullah's ship. We also deleted the design specifications for several Federation devices from his computer. Ensign Kim also reported that Cullah had two distinct backup copies of the above information on his ship. We let Cullah believe that he kept them hidden from us to stall any immediate thoughts of retaliation he might have entertained but Ensign Kim deleted them with a electron pulse from a distance. I'm entering into the following people into the records for commendations,

Ensign Gila Tam, for her efforts piloting Voyager through an extremely dangerous combat situation despite her lack of experience and relative discomfort with the posting to con.

Crewman Michael Sawra, for bravery under fire and leading the team that retook Engineering from the Kazon intruders.

B'Elanna Torres for handling the Engineering duties with less then a skeleton crew through combat maneuvering.

And finally Ensign Domingo Martin, for selflessly giving his life in the defence of a fellow crewmember during the Kazon's initial assault. I've made a decision concerning the chain of command in Engineering and have asked Joe Carey to meet with me in the Captain's ready room as soon as he his released from sickbay.

* * *

"You asked to see me, sir?"

"Yes, come in Joe. Take a seat." Paris motioned to a chair, "I wanted to ask you a few questions."

Joe walked in a sat down. "About what?"

"I want to know how B'Elanna has worked out in Engineering?"

Carey smiled. "She's brilliant, thats hard to refute. I'll be honest and say that I haven't had an easy time listening to her though."

Tom cocked his head, "Oh?"

"She's forceful when presenting her ideas. And she tends to be one tracked about them as well. In her case it works because she's usually right. But it's still very frustrating to work with."

"Well, that's part of her background I think." Paris looked thoughtful a moment before turning serious again, "Look Joe, I want to do something that won't work without your help and consent. And I need to you to hear me out before responding."

When Carey nodded his head Paris continued. "I want to put Ms Torres in charge of Engineering. I'll grant her a field commission and instate her as Chief officially, please understand it has nothing to do with your abilities, Joe. Torres' training, informal though it may be, has been directly tailored to our current situation. We're going to need her unorthodox thinking if this ship is going to remain functional in the long term."

Watching Joe's face Tom tried to guage his reaction. "The problem is that I have the distinct feeling that she will need a strong second to serve as a buffer until she adapts to Starfleet protocol. If you don't think you can do it, then I'll move on to another idea and scrap this one. What do you say?"

Joe smiled a slow sad smile. "To be honest Mr Paris, she's been running things in Engineering for a while now. In the beginning I tried to stonewall her on one of her ‘unorthodox' repair ideas." Joe paused a moment. "I never saw her fist until it was a few inches from my face, just hovering there. I saw this blaze of emotion in her eyes and knew that she had just locked down on an impulse at the last second. Otherwise I'd have made a visit to sickbay for sure. Since then I've tried to avoid confronting her, and the result has been that she took over repair and maintenance."

Paris matched his smile. "I see. That doesn't really surprise me I suppose. Except that she managed to pull the punch, I wouldn't have thought she had that level of control yet."

"I don't think she knew why she stopped either, I saw this look of confusion in her face. From another position it might have been amusing." Carey's smile had deepened.

Tom chuckled, "I'm sure it would have been. Well then, if I have your support we'll try this angle."

Carey stood, "You have it Mr Paris. We need her skills in Engineering and I don't think she's much on taking orders, so I guess we'll just have to see how she handles giving them."

* * *

"You want me to what!?"

"I want you to take over as Chief Engineer," Tom repeated quietly.

B'Elanna looked agitated. "Why me? They won't accept me you know."

"You, because I've looked at your records, B'Elanna. Your test scores at the Academy were superb and your time with the Maquis has provided you with invaluable expeience working with a less then surplus of parts and power. As to the others accepting you, that comes with time, however since Joe has offered to back you up I don't think that will be a problem for the foreseeable future."

"Carey offered to...?" B'Elanna trailed off in mid sentence.

"Yes. He told me about your little altercation and the results that stemmed from it. I'm glad by the way that you decided not to follow through on that impulse. It would have made my job very difficult."

"I know." Her voice had gone quiet again, "That's what stopped me, you know. I figured you had enough trouble without being blamed for letting the ‘Maquis maniac' out of the brig."

Tom laughed lightly. "You have an irrefutable point there Torres. At any rate, will you accept the commision?"

She thought about it for a long moment.

"Yes."

* * *

Captains Log Stardate 48332.8, Thomas Paris recording.

I've entered into the official record that, as of this Stardate, I've awarded a field commision of Lieutenant (jg) to B'Elanna Torres and given her the posting of Chief of Engineering on Voyager. The ceremony was attended by a sizable portion of crew, mostly from the engineering section where B'Elanna has apparently earned a level of respect if not outright friendship. Since her appointment, I've had her make the analysis of Ensign Kim's findings from the Kazon cruiser the top priority of the Engineering staff. I have a disturbing feeling I already know the results but don't want to believe my suspicions are correct.

* * *

"Computer End Log."

Tom Paris looked up from his log when he heard the door chime.

"Enter."

B'Elanna Torres stood in the doorway to the ready room, looking uncertain about entering.

"Come on in B'Elanna. What can I do for you?"

She looked at him, Paris looked tired, "I finished analyzing the data Harry pulled out of the Kazon's computers. I... It came from the Liberty."

Tom looked at her solemnly, he had figured as much but he knew that the loss of the Liberty would hurt her, "I see. I'm sorry B'Elanna."

She looked at him sharply, fire dancing in her eyes, "No, you don't see. Someone on the Liberty *sold* it to them."

Tom Paris snapped ramrod straight, "Are you certain?"

"Do you really think I would come to you with this if I weren't? Yes I'm certain, the Kazon practically had a manual on how to build the stuff. There was also some mention of payment by the Kazon to the person in question, but it doesn't say who or what."

Paris was furious by this time, "If I find out who it was I'll...," Tom cut off when he realised he was wrapping his hands around an imaginary neck.

B'Elanna almost took a step back, Tom Paris angry was an impressive sight even to her. Not that she didn't sympathise, whoever sold the technology to the Kazon had been accomplices to the attempted takeover of the ship. *His* ship she now realized. Tom Paris was growing into the captaincy very quickly and he was angry at the attempt to hurt his crew.

* * *

Captains Log, Supplemental.

I have decided that tracking down the Liberty must become our primary goal for the time being. We can't allow another incident like the one with the Kazon to occur, and god help this sector if a people like the Kazon gain a technical advantage like replicators or transporters. Luckily ships with Federation technology arn't exactly inconspicuous in this area of space so we were able to locate a planet that had heard news of her. Voyager has set course for a world about three light years away that the Liberty supposedly stopped at for provisions. Hopefully we can pick up a few ourselves along with news of the Liberty's next stop.

* * *

"I'm telling you that Kazon looked like he was ready to chew stembolts he was so mad. When Paris ordered him to heave to and prepare to be boarded I thought I was going to choke!"

"I still can't believe we boarded a Kazon ship and stole from them."

"Stole? The were using alpha quadrant technology. How do you think they got it?"

"They didn't get it from us."

"So? Starfleet regs back Paris' play on this one. You know we couldn't let the Kazon keep that stuff, especially after they used it on us."

"Yeah, poor Domingo. He never wanted to fight. He deserved better."

A murmur of general assent was heard around the table.

"I'm more worried about why we've changed course, we're not heading to the alpha quadrant anymore."

"Nobody knows, but I was standing duty at the Ops station when Sawra went in to ask. He came out with the scariest look on his face I've ever seen. Whatever it is, it's big."

"Its got to have something to do with the Kazon attack."

"Maybe Kim found out how they got their hands on transporters?"

The speculations suddenly ceased when they noticed the red uniform of Tom Paris. All eyes followed their Captain around the room as he aproached Neelix's kitchen.

"Neelix. Whats good today?" Tom leaned on the counter and smiled amiably at the cheerful Talaxian.

"Hello Captain... uh, I mean Tom," Neelix quickly backpedaled on his greeting when Tom's smile dropped, and was relieved to see it return in full force.

"Thats right Neelix, Just plain Tom. And speaking of 'Just Plain', I don't suppose there's any chance of Tomato soup today?" Tom was just joking, they hadn't found anything even resembling tomatoes at their last stop.

"No, I'm afraid not. We do have some particularly zesty casserole though."

Tom's wide smiled almost dropped, when Neelix dropped words like 'zesty' there was trouble brewing, but he managed to force a cheerful timber into his voice. "Well, if that's what you've got I guess that's what I'll eat."

Watching Tom take his tray over to an empty table Neelix smiled, he hadn't been certain about joining up with Voyager when Kes had talked him into it but now he was happy with the decision. The people here on Voyager needed him, whether they knew it or not. Neelix smiled deeper, he loved to be needed. Speaking of which, Neelix grabbed a tray of his casserole and called to an available crewman to replace him, "Say Tom, mind if I join you?"

"Sure, Neelix, I'd love the company."

* * *

B'Elanna Torres strode into the mess hall, running a finger tersely under her collar. She still couldn't get used to the Starfleet uniform she had agreed to wear, it didn't seem to fit her properly. She noticed Neelix sitting with Paris at an otherwise empty table and decided to at least say hi.

"Hi Neelix, Paris."

Tom looked up. "Hi B'Elanna, grab some food and join us. Maybe let us in on the mysteries of Engineering?"

She looked at the crooked smile on his face and fought back a grin, "I'll grab something to eat and be back... But those secrets are mine to know Paris."

Tom watched her walk away, a rueful grin on his face. He had to respect someone that gave back as good as they got. When she picked up her tray and headed back he snapped his attention back to Neelix.

"So how are things going in the mess hall Neelix?"

"Great, just great! Confidentially, I'm thinking of trying an earth recipe I found, something called carrot cake. Of course we don't have any carrots, but I'm sure that leola root will do fine, they are both roots you know."

Tom groaned, leola root cake wasn't his idea of a desert but there was no telling the Talaxian that. He was still shuddering internally when B'Elanna's shadow swept over him as she took a seat at the table.

"So what are you guys talking about?"

Tom forced a certain level of enthusiasm into his voice. "Neelix was telling me that he plans to experiment with a recipe for Leola Root Cake."

B'Ellanna was considerably less adept at hiding her reactions then Tom Paris. "Ugh. No offence Neelix but leola root is too sharp for a cake."

Neelix looked downcast. "I see. Well I guess I'll have to come up with something else for desert then, I'd better go."

Tom watched the dejected Talaxian walk away, "You really have to watch what you say to him, he takes things hard. Its a good thing he has more bounce then an antigrav sled."

"I'll apologize later, I really couldn't help it. Leola root in a cake? Yuck." B'Elanna stuck her toungue out, jerking a laugh from Tom who couldn't help but agree.

"True. I can't decide, do you think Talaxian's originally had such blunted taste buds, or do you suppose they burnt them off generation after generation of eating this junk?" Tom indicated the ‘food' in his tray.

She couldn't help it, she snickered. "I honestly don't know and I don't want to find out either."

"Ah, but what a way to go. Sensory overload. Mind you I'd prefer a more pleasant variety if I had the choice."

B'Elanna's eyes narrowed, her smile dropping, "Pig."

Tom froze, shocked, his mind quickly replaying what he had just said, "I wasn't suggesting anything B'Elanna. And I wasn't necessarily refering to anything inappropriate, God knows I can think of about a billion things more enjoyable then Neelix's cooking."

She relented, slightly. "Alright. Anyway, I have to go, some of us do have to work for a living."

Paris watched a crooked smirk float across her face and was grateful that her humor had returned.

"Well anytime you'd like to try commanding this ship come on up."

Torres gave him a look of mock horror before she turned her back and strode out of the mess hall. Tom sat back a bit in his chair, I'm going to have to watch myself around her. She's quick but she's also got some soft spots.

* * *

Captain's Log, Stardate 48334.2, Thomas Paris recording.

We broke orbit of the Harathuan homeworld several hours ago, en route to a trading outpost the Harath recommended to Captain Chakotay two weeks ago. Despite their lead on us we should be able to catch the Liberty relatively quickly due to Voyager's superior speed. Exactly what I intend to do once we've caught up with them is not a question I can answer yet. Despite my personal troubles with Chakotay I can't imagine him selling advanced technology to the Kazon. To the Talaxians, yes. Even to the Harath, but the Kazon are so much like the Cardassians in their ideology that I can't understand how any of the Maquis could have stooped to dealing with them on that level.

* * *

"So Captain Paris, how do you like our humble outpost?"

"Not so humble in my eyes Councilor. Its a lovely station and my crew is glad of the opportunity to relax." Tom was seated across from the commander of the trading station, enjoying some offered delicacies.

"We're happy to have them, espeially since they are considerably better behaved then the last group of your species we saw," Councilor Tenra went on, "The group we saw a few day's ago were a lot... shall we saw rougher around the edges?... than your crew."

Paris smiled, "That is merely the result of the differing training and ideology of our two ships Councilor. My crew were trained by Starfleet to be the best of the best in every conceivable situation. The Liberty is staffed by farmers and civilians who were forced by circumstances to take to the stars. You may have noticed a difference in some of them, the Captain for instance?"

"Ah yes, Chakotay. He was most courteous, always apologizing for even the slightest problems. I thought it was simply his manner?"

"Some of it was, of course, but Chakotay was Starfleet trained as well. An excellent commander, so he would automatically take responsibility for his crew."

The Councilor looked thoughtful. "I see. And the dark man? He seemed different as well, never smiling or yelling but he always seemed to be in the right place to diffuse troublesome situations. Chakotay introduced us but his name escapes me for the moment, I believe his species was Vulcin?"

"Vulcan. Yes, they don't believe in expressing emotion but they have almost uncanny powers of observation. I don't know if he has any Starfleet training, I wasn't aware of any Vulcans on the Liberty."

"So, you have yet to tell me why your looking for these people." The Councilor leaned in over his desk.

Paris began cautiously. "Among other things we have one of their crewmembers with us. Both ships are also heading home so it makes sense for us to contact them."

The Councilor leaned back, satisfied, he knew that Captain Paris wasn't telling him everything but that wasn't his concern. "The Liberty left here about three of your days ago, they didn't have any destination planned and just set a general course towards the, what did you call it?, Alpha Quadrant."

"I see, well if they stay on that course we might be able to find them, with a little luck." Paris sat up a bit. "Have you had a chance to look over our trade request yet?"

"I have, and I'm sorry to say that we don't have any dilithium available, its not a common element I'm afraid. However your engineer and one of my technicians managed to find a few of the things on your list, and we have a supply of dueterium on site that should help fill your ships energy requirements."

"Good, and what we've offered in return?"

"Is more the acceptable Captain, my engineers are in awe of your vessel and are also ecstatic at the work you are saving them. Your offered use your replicators will save us months of fabrication time and allow us to extend our station's facilities. We are most grateful."

Tom waved off the gratitude. "Not at all Councilor. We needed the supplies, and are glad to help."

The two men shook hands and Tom stood up, leaving the Councilor's office.

* * *

Captain's log, Stardate 48336.4, Thomas Paris recording

Voyager has been on the trail of the Liberty for several days now, without much luck. However unrest among the crew has quelled somewhat since we started back en route to the alpha quadrant. We have picked up occasional Kazon vessel on our sensors however they seem to shy away from Voyager as soon as they detect us. I can't say that I'm unhappy with that particular of turn of events, however it also makes me nervous. I've ordered the operations and stellar cartography crews to work together while scanning space ahead of us in all directions for Federation warp signatures. Speculation concerning that order has hit the ships gossip mill and, unfortunately, is uncomfortably close to the truth. B'Elanna Torres recent popularity with the crew has waned considerably since the Maquis/Kazon rumor hit the mess hall, an unfortunately ironic turn of events considering it was Torres herself who discovered the Liberty's involvement in the Kazon invasion.

* * *

Tom Paris was sitting in the Captain's chair, looking over more data provided by Starfleet Intelligence on Chakotay's Maquis cell. The undercover agent had been very complete in his duties, even including the Liberty's Captain's logs, a complete crew roster as of stardate 48228.5, and personal observations concerning the efficiency of the crew.

Efficiency? Why does that sound familiar? Tom wondered, his eyes widening a moment later, The black Vulcan. Its a long shot, but...

Tom's thoughts were cut off a moment later when Harry called down to him, "Tom, we just picked up a Federation warp trail."

"Helm adjust course to follow the trail, increase to maximum warp."

"Maximum warp, aye." Baytart said, his fingers dancing over the helm.

Voyager lept to warp 9.975 and barreled through the vacuum, following the rapidly scattering trail of ions and subspacial distortions that made up a warp trail. They sped along this course for nearly three hours before Harry spotted their quarry.

"We're aproaching the source rapidly Tom, its surrounded by other ships."

"Drop us out of warp as soon as we're in range Ensign."

"Aye."

Voyager dropped clear of warp several million kilometers from the Liberty, slipping easily into a cautious intercept course.

"On screen."

The bridge crew stifled a gasp as the Liberty was centered on the screen, surrounded by Kazon warships. Tom's knuckles tightened on the edge of the chair, I didn't want to believe that Chakotay would stoop to this... He stopped, and peered harder at the screen.

"Harry, what was that? I thought I saw a flash."

"You did. The Kazon are firing on the Liberty."

Paris made a fast decision, "Helm, take us in. Full impulse."

"Full impulse, aye." Paris watched the change in Baytart's demeanor and sighed quietly. He would have been enthusiastic himself normally, but it felt a lot different from his new seat.

The one sided battle rapidly approached on the viewscreen as Paris called red alert, sending Voyager's bridge into a state of controlled chaos as each person attended their duties.

"Baytart, take us in. Attack pattern Gamma five."

* * *

On the bridge of the Liberty, Captain Chakotay began calling orders desperately to his crew. Tuvok was doing wonders at the tactical station but against seven Kazon Nistrum warships it was going to take a miracle to survive.

"Captain. There is another ship on an intercept course."

"Great, the Kazon seem a little insecure to you Tuvok?"

"It is not a Kazon vessel." The Vulcan's eybrow shot up, "It would apear to be Voyager."

"Voyager? They're still hunting us?" Chakotay sounded disgusted. "That Captain's persistant, I'll give her that."

The Vulcan didn't bother to reply, he was too busy targeting the attacking Kazon vessels. Chakotay watched the Starfleet vessel arc in on a classic attack pattern, gracefully lining up their shot, only to switch to evasive maneuvers when the Kazon opened fire on them. Figures, oh well I'm not going to complain. They are taking the heat off us.

* * *

"Up!" Tom Paris was furious, he had lept clear of his chair a moment earlier and was snapping an order to his helmsman through clenched teeth.

"What?" Pablo Baytart looked behind him, confused.

"I said UP!" Without waiting for a responce Paris pulled the ensign clear of his seat and began tapping commands himself.

"Hey! You cant just..."

Sawra didn't give Baytart a chance to finish. "Ensign, go to your quarters. If you don't leave now, I'll call for a security team only they'll be escorting you to the brig."

Baytart looked like he was going to object for a moment, but Sawra's hand reaching for his commbadge made the young ensign think twice. He walked off the bridge grumbling.

"I'm taking us back in, pattern delta three."

* * *

Chakotay watched as Voyager arced around and swept back into the battle. For a moment he wondered at the change in the vessel. He had seen it hesitate for a long moment, taking several hits and now it was moving with purpose again. The ship looked different though, he had experience flying Starfleet vessels and he recognized the change. A new pilot had taken the helm.

And a very good one at that. Voyager twisted into the Kazon formation, raking one ship with phasers and hammering another with a torpedo salvo. The nimble Starfleet ship slid through the battle, occasionally slipping between the Liberty and her attackers to take a Phaser burst or intercept a torpedo, always firing hard and fast at the Kazon vessels. If Chakotay didn't know any better he would have read an emotion in the ship's maneuvers. Fury.

The Liberty had taken too many hits however, hull breaches were forming on all decks and the power reserves had been depleted by the battle.

"Tuvok, send a distress call to Voyager."

The solemn faced Vulcan wordlessly tapped the appropriate commands, an almost undetectable gleam in his eye.

* * *

"Tom! The Liberty just sent a distress call. There are hull breeches forming all over that ship!"

"Ok. Harry, prepare to transport the entire crew of the Liberty to cargo bay two. Sawra, get a security team down there immediately. Oh and Harry, you'd better have the transporter disable any weapons our guests are carrying."

The acknowledgements from behind him were enough for Tom, he rolled Voyager out of the middle of the battle and skirted around behind one of the drifting kazon ships. Using the Kazon vessel for cover Voyager dropped shields for an instant, its transporters reaching out to the Liberty and plucking everyone aboard with unerring precision. Just as the shields were forming up again a Kazon blast found its mark however, ripping through Voyager's hull like an ice pick through paper.

"Hull breach, decks six though eight! Energy forcefields in place. Engineering is responding."

"Good. We'd better finish this quick though."

Paris twisted Voyager out from behind the drifting Kazon vessel and reentered the battle with a fury. The Liberty had managed to severely damage two of the Kazon ships, leaving Voyager with five to deal with before the battle was ended.

"Hail the Kazon, audio only."

"Audio up, Tom."

"Kazon vessel's this is Tom Paris of the Federation Starship Voyager. Pull back from this area immediately or we will destroy you." Tom flipped Voyager around a salvo of incoming torpedoes and lined up another shot for Sawra on the Kazon.

A new Kazon voice came over the speakers. "This is our ship Voyager. We payed for it and we will have it."

Quick glances were exchanged around the bridge. "This vessel is under our protection. We will not allow you to take it."

"It is not your choice, Voyager. We have backup en route. Can you say the same?"

The mocking voice was grating on Tom's nerves. "I'll be alive when they get here Kazon. Can *you* say the same?"

Only silence was heard from the Kazon captain.

"Tom, they're breaking from battle. The Kazon are reteating."

A quick cheer was just as quickly quelled by Tom, "Harry, start scanning for that backup. Have B'Ellanna report to the conference room immediately." Tom hesitated, "And Sawra, you'd better go get Chakotay and his senior staff."

* * *

Chakotay was frustrated. His crew were being held at phaser point by a security detail in Voyager's cargo bay and now he was being ordered to the conference room. He knew that he shouldn't have expected anything more but it was frustrating to have to deal with Starfleet bureaucracy even in the delta quadrant. His tightly controlled emotions didn't stand a chance when he saw who was sitting at the conference table.

"B'Elanna! Your all right an..." He stopped, taking in her uniform and the two pips resting on her collar, his anger suddenly taking over, "What are you doing in that uniform?"

B'Elanna's face had lit up for a moment, when Chakotay's anger burst out she found herself unprepared to deal with it and a guilty flush crossed her face. That flush was all the confirmation Chakotay needed that she, of all people, had betrayed him. The new voice threw him for another long loop.

"Relax Chakotay." Tom Paris strode into the room, casually reading a pad. "She's not a Starfleet plant, Voyager's crew was decimated during the Caretaker incident and Voyager's Captain, despite many shortcomings, isn't one to overlook someone a valuable as B'Elanna Torres."

B'Elanna flashed a grateful smile in Tom's direction but he didn't see it, Chakotay's temper had found a new target.

"Paris. I should have known you were on board. I recognized your flying," Tom almost smiled at the compliment, it surprised him coming from Chakotay, "Who did the Captain replace you with in mid-combat Paris?"

Chakotay watched Paris and the two Starfleet officers in gold stiffen at that comment and suddenly realized he had made a blunder.

"Hey! You can't..." Harry was cut off sharply by Sawra's cold words.

"*Captain* Paris was the pilot that took over in mid-battle."

Silence reined over the room for along moment before Tom broke it, "Chakotay, if you'll take a seat we'll get to the matter at hand. Explanations of Voyager's current command will have to wait. The Kazon have backup on its way."

A muttered agreement was all that was heard as Chakotay took his seat and motioned his officers to take theirs.

"In case either of you don't recognize me," Tom addressed Chakotay's two officers, "I'm Tom Paris, and am in comand of Voyager for the time being."

Chakotay spoke up, his voice low and cold. "This is my security officer Ayala, and my tactical chief Tuvok."

Ayala was looking curiously at Chakotay at the time, Chakotay himself was staring at the table, and since Tom's staff were watching the Maquis no one but the impassive Vulcan caught Tom's reaction to the name Tuvok. It was gone almost as soon as it appeared, leaving Tuvok to wonder exactly what had happened on Voyager. And how much this 'Captain Paris' knew.

"B'Elanna, I want you to take an engineering detail over to the Liberty. See if we can get it moving," Tom took a deep breath, "if not we're going to have to blow it and get clear of the area before the Kazon come back."

"What!?"

Tom had been expecting the reaction, "Calm down, all of you. We don't have a choice in the matter. When the Kazon realize that Voyager is on site they'll bring in enough ships to drag us down by sheer force of numbers. If we see them on our scanners I'm going to order the Liberty scuttled and we're going to get out of here. B'Elanna, you know the Liberty so its your mission, be complete but be fast."

B'Elanna nodded and left the room, Tom watched Chakotay's gaze follow her out.

"What about the Maquis, Paris?"

Tom sighed. "I don't know. I really don't. In the meantime Chakotay I assume you'll want to accompany the away team?"

Chakotay looked surprised and nodded.

"Ok. Sawra, go with him, pick up some environmental suits and some security personnel with demolitions experience. Plant the explosives while B'Elanna is working." Tom looked at Chakotay's indignant reaction.

"let Chakotay set the detonation codes. It's his right. Ayala, your going to be needed in Cargo bay two, keep your people calm and try to explain whats going on."

Ayala looked to Chakotay for confirmation and, recieving a nod, acknowledged Tom's order, "Mr Tuvok, I think you'll be best used if you help coordinate the treatment of the Liberty survivors in Sickbay. I'll walk you down myself. If there's anything else?"

When he didn't get any reaction the meeting broke up quickly, everyone heading for the turbolift.

"Mr Tuvok and I will catch the next one, these lifts arn't built to hold this many people." Tom smoothly explained.

A few moments later he and Tuvok were en route to sickbay, "Mr Tuvok, I wanted to warn you what your going to find when we enter Sickbay."

One of Tuvok's eyebrows went up, "Indeed."

"Captain Janeway was seriously injured in the Caretaker incident. She's been in a coma ever since."

Tom was watching the man very closely, looking for the faintest flicker of a reaction, a reaction he thought he saw but couldn't be certain. "I fail to see why you think this information would have an impact on me."

"Call it a hunch Tuvok, call it a hunch."

The two stepped into the chaos that was sickbay, the Doctor trying to treat several patients at once with only Kes to help him, "I should also have mentioned that we lost our medical staff in the incident. The EMH is the ship's CMO now, Kes here has been training hard to be the ships nurse since an unfortunate incident involving a species called the Vidiians."

The Vulcan processed the information quickly. The situation on Voyager was worse then he could have guessed. The medical staff killed, the ship in Command of a man who he knew was once a Maquis himself. Mr Paris' reputation was quite far spread and it was disturbing that such a man was in command of Voyager. It was considerably more disturbing that this man of questionable character seemed to know about his identity, making his position unfortunately precarious.

"Mr Tuvok?," Paris motioned the Vulcan through the crowd in a sealed back room.

Tuvok looked around the small room Mr Paris had led him to, the only occupant was, a very still, Captain Janeway. Tuvok started to move to her side, but stopped himself immediately.

"It's ok, Lieutenant Commander. No one can see in here."

He does know. Tuvok didn't bother trying to figure it out, Captain Janeway was a very old friend and he wanted to be by her side. At least for a short while.

Tom watched the stoic Vulcan stand over his Captain, Tuvok wasn't showing any emotion but Tom still found the scene touching. He hated to break up the moment but didn't have a choice.

"Tuvok? We still have work to do. You can come back later."

The Vulcan straightened. "Of course."

* * *

On Liberty B'Elanna was leading her engineering team through the ship, vainly attempting to catalogue the massive amounts of damage the Kazon had inflicted before Voyager had driven them off.

"Nicoletti, Simms, check out the breaches on this deck I'm going down to Engineering to see what a systems diagnostic says." The enviromental suit caused her voice to echo strangely through the ship.

"B'Elanna. I'm going to my quarters, I want to get my logs together in case we have to leave her."

"All right Chakotay, stay in contact though. If the Kazon come back we'll have to move fast."

"Don't worry, I will."

Chakotay broke off from B'Elanna's team and started though the ship to his quarters, trying to deal with the ironic turn of events he had just experienced. To not only be rescued from the Kazon by Voyager, but to find out that *Paris* of all people gave the orders to save him and his crew was disconcerting.

In his quarters Chakotay started gathering his things, he slowly began placing them in a pack he pulled out. His medicine bundle, a few padds, and the small memory core he kept his logs in. He hadn't gathered much to show for his time on the Liberty, except for a rather high bounty on his head about seventy thousand light years away. And now he found himself at the mercy of a young man he once called irredeemable. Life was most definitely not good. Still, he mused, Paris seemed to have support among the Starfleet people around him, maybe I was wrong about him.

Uncharacteristically Chakotay chuckled. I doubt it though. Chakotay finished up and began going from room to room, gathering what he could for his crew from their quarters in case the Kazon returned. He had only started when the call came through from Sawra.

"Captain Chakotay? We're setting the first charge, do you want to set the codes now or wait until we have the entire chain in place?"

"I'll wait Sawra, I want to gather up some of my crew's belongings in case we have to scuttle the Liberty, Its not a big ship so I should be able to do a halfway decent job."

"Sounds like a plan sir, I'll have Voyager beam you a supply of markers. You can just gather their things in a pile in each room and Voyager can beam them over."

"Ok, thanks crewman. That'll speed things along."

"No problem sir. Speed is, after all, of the essence here. Sawra out."

Chakotay acknowledged and closed the channel. A moment later the marker's Sawra had promised materialized and Chakotay went back to work, moving quickly from room to room placing all his crew's belongings into hastily arranged little piles and placing a marker firmly on top of each one. In a little over an hour he had finished all thirty five of the Liberty's cabins and headed toward Sawra's position, ready to do a Captain's final duty.

"We just completed laying the charges a few minutes ago sir." Sawra looked up at him as he stepped onto the bridge. "We've placed them in positions to vaporize the key elements of the ship. Main and backup computer cores, transporter systems, the replicators, as well as the vessel's superstructure and sensor clusters. We've rigged the phaser banks to overload at the same command. That should destroy all traces of the weapons systems. We also tried to initialize the self destruct sequence but there isn't enough power in the system to do it."

Chakotay nodded solemnly, "alright, let me enter the authorization. Computer, set destruct code to Chakotay Omega 6 black."

The small arming device blinked for a short moment before they heard, "Confirmed, authorization set to voice and code verification."

"All right, we're clear then, lets go down to Engineering and see if we really need to use this stuff."

Chakotay nodded and followed Sawra off the bridge, taking one last look around before letting the doors hiss shut behind him.

* * *

"So there's no chance we can salvage her?" Paris had met them in the transporter room.

"No." B'Elanna looked like she wanted something to hit. "Not with what we have on hand. Voyager is to low on energy to replicate the parts we'd need just to get the warp drive back online, forget about fixing the hull breeches. The Liberty is dead in space."

Tom turned to Chakotay who just nodded tensely. Well I'm glad I'm not going to have to fight him on this. But what I'm going to do with Chakotay on the same ship as I am, I don't want to even think about.

"All right then, Chakotay do you want to do this from the bridge?"

"Yes. That sounds... appropriate." Chakotay sounded tired, not that Tom blamed him.

A few minutes later they were standing on the bridge. Tom had taken the center chair and had motioned Chakotay down onto the lower platform along with him.

"Chakotay? This is your call."

Chakotay nodded his thanks. "Put the Liberty on main viewer. Computer, establish a link with the Liberty's main computer."

"Link Established."

Chakotay watched his ship for a long moment, hanging in the void outside Voyager, peaceful and serene. "Has Voyager moved to a safe distance?"

"Aye Sir, we're clear of the danger zone."

"Computer, send the following to the Liberty's main computer. Initiate destruct charges, Authorization Chakotay Omega Six Black."

"Authorization Confirmed."

The View screen remained unchanged for a long moment then the Liberty shuddered, a long plume of fire and gases erupting from it. The first was followed immediately by a second, then a third, and finally the entire vessel erupted in a blaze that blacked out Voyager's viewscreen for several seconds. When the image returned there was nothing remaining of the battered Maquis vessel, nothing but those who had served on her and those who had set out to track her down.