Part Five
Chakotay sat in shocked silence for a long time after Tom
finished speaking. Finally, he gathered his thoughts and
refocused on the blonde. "Janeway actually asked you to be her
whore?" he asked in disbelief. Granted, Tom might be slightly
promiscuous at times, but even Chakotay had never considered
him a whore. Not even back in the Maquis, when the younger
man had been at his worst. "It does explain her attitude change
towards you," he said.
Tom nodded sadly. "I guess… I guess what hurts the most is that
it is what she has been thinking about me ever since we met. You
and I were off to a bad start," he added. "But at least you were up
front about what you thought - think - about me."
"Things have changed for both of us over the years," Chakotay
told him. "So has my opinion of you. You are a good man,
Tom."
"You really think so?" Tom asked a bit surprised.
Chakotay nodded and smiled, slightly amused by Tom's uncanny
uncertainty.
"Thanks," Tom said gratefully. Then he shook off his insecurity
and returned his attention to their situation. "Do you know what
the aliens will do to us?"
Chakotay's smile disappeared, as he too remembered their
predicament. "No," he answered quietly. "They haven't said
anything. In fact," he frowned when a thought occurred to him.
"They've pretty much left me alone since they took Voyager."
"So, you don't know what they want," Tom concluded. When
Chakotay shook his head 'no', Tom continued. "We can't just do
nothing. We have to get Voyager back and rescue the others," he
added.
"For that," Chakotay pointed out, "we need a plan."
"How can we contact the doctor?" Tom asked, already working
on one.
Chakotay rose from the couch and went to the desk. He opened
the top drawer, reached in and picked something up. After
closing the drawer again, he turned to Tom and threw the item to
the pilot. "Will this do?" he asked with a slight smile.
Tom looked down to see what Chakotay had tossed him. He
chuckled when he saw the comm badge. "This should do nicely,
thank you." Lifting his eyes, he met Chakotay's. "How did you
get this?"
Chakotay lifted an eyebrow. "The doctor gave it to me while we
waited for your arrival," he answered. "He knew that the aliens
had locked us out of the computer system, and that we'd need a
way to contact him."
For a moment, Tom stared at Chakotay in silence. "Anything
else I should know?" he finally asked.
Chakotay cocked his head slightly, pretending to think about it.
"Well, the doctor *did* give me some information about the
aliens," he admitted.
Tom gave Chakotay a quizzical look, waiting for the commander
to tell him what he knew. After a few moments of silence, the
questioning look turned into a glare. "Well?" he asked
impatiently.
Chakotay shook off his thoughts and focused on Tom. After a
few seconds of hesitation to remember what they were talking
about, he spoke. "There are about one hundred aliens on board.
Mainly, they are posted on the Bridge, in Engineering, the main
corridors and sickbay."
"I did notice a few of them lying on the biobeds," Tom
remarked. "Do you know what's wrong with them?"
"Not really, except that they have been exposed to some kind of
radiation. For some reason," Chakotay went on, "they don't
respond to the doctor's sleeping gas, but he's working on that."
"Putting them to sleep and taking back the ship would be too
easy," Tom remarked sarcastically.
Chakotay smirked. "Of course it would."
"So where does that leave us?" Tom asked. "We have a comm
badge, but there's no reason to contact the doctor yet." He
hesitated. "Is there?"
"No, there isn't," Chakotay answered. "I think we should let the
doctor contact *us*. We can't risk breaking his cover."
Tom nodded. That's what he'd figured. "Well, the comm badge
gives us access to the computer, so where do you want to go?" he
asked.
Chakotay thought about it for a while. "Not Engineering," he
finally answered. "Too crowded. Maybe we should…" He was
interrupted when his stomach growled.
Tom smiled in sympathy when his own growled in response. "I
think we should get something to eat before we do anything
else." He rose from the couch and went over to the replicator.
Then he turned to look at Chakotay. "What would you like?"
Chakotay considered it for a moment. "I think I'll have a 7 layer
dip and chips," he finally said.
Tom's eyebrows rose. "What's *that*?"
Chakotay gave the pilot a questioning look. "You don't know?"
he asked amazed. When Tom shook his head 'no', Chakotay
sighed softly. "It's a Mexican dish that consists of refried beans,
lettuce, guacamole, salsa, cheese, sour cream and whole beans.
You should try it," he added.
Tom shrugged. "If you say so," he said, then turned back to the
replicator, tapped the comm badge and placed an order for their
meals. He got an unexpected result.
"Voiceprint not recognized."
Tom sent Chakotay a startled look. If he didn't know better, he
would've *sworn* the computer sounded apologetic.
Chakotay frowned slightly and walked over to stand beside Tom.
"Let me try," he said. When the other man handed him the comm
badge, he tapped it and said, "Computer, identify my voice."
There was a slight pause as the computer attempted to obey.
Then, "Voiceprint not recognized."
Chakotay's frown deepened. "It seems that we have no access
whatsoever to the computer," he said quietly.
Tom nodded his agreement, then grimaced. "You know, this
could put a serious crimp in any plan we come up with." He
sighed before he walked back to the couch and sat down again.
"I know," Chakotay answered as he went back to the desk and
put the comm badge back into the drawer. Then he turned and
strode over to sit beside Tom. "Any idea what we do now?"
Tom sighed and leaned back. "Other than waiting for our
capturers? No."
The two men sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts while they
waited for something to happen. It was going to be a long wait.