REP/REV Voy Bodhisattva, PG, 1/1 (Original Timeline 'Endgame')
Gojirob
Author : ‘Goji’ Rob Morris
Series : Voyager
Type : Extrapolation of canon alternate timeline, mystical
Part : 1/1
Characters : J, C, P
Rating : PG
Summary : Tom uses what Chakotay teaches him about the way things are
on Voyager to help him make a big decision.
Bodhisattva
by Rob Morris
USS VOYAGER, 2375
"Captain, taking the alien aboard may prove unwise. As your Chief of
Security---"
"You still answer to me, Mister Tuvok. Tom, Harry, lay in the
appropriate course. Something to add, Mister Chakotay?"
"Only that the alien has offered us no guarantees. All he's done is
make a rather demand-like request for transport."
"Noted. But space is a demanding place, and is known to offer no
guarantees. We'll go my way on this one."
"Course plotted and set, Captain. Are we good enough that I can hit
the refresher for a minute?"
"Tom, you hardly have to ask permission if we're not in battle or on
alert."
"I’m just being mindful of my recent walk over the eggshells, Ma'am."
"Belay that. You paid your tab with a pip. It’s done."
Tom nodded, and accessed the small refresher area.
"Computer--Paris White Noise Program One."
Waiting a second after he did what he had to, Tom spoke in a full
voice without yelling.
"Yeah, Captain--Your Way On This One And On Every Other One, Too. Why
even ask us?---Computer, turn off fan and WNP1."
He half-expected Janeway to have somehow heard him, but she barely
even noticed he was gone.
"That was quick."
"Yeah, well—it’s not like I have anyone to talk to in there."
----------------------------------------
TWO DAYS LATER
Chakotay heard the chime at the door to his quarters.
"Come."
It was Tom Paris, wearing the noncommittal mask he had worn since his
demotion and imprisonment.
"May I come in, Commander?"
"Sit down, Tom. I think I saw this coming. But wear your true face
here, please. I find that one a trifle insulting. So would Kathryn, if
she were thinking clearly."
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Granted--as long as you meet my terms."
The frown on Tom's face was disconcerting, but honest.
"Chakotay--we have four devoured crewmen. It’s only by a flat miracle
that Harry was able to save Naomi."
"It’s no miracle. She and Harry will always possess a bond. They have
the same vibrational frequency. They'll probably even die on the same
day."
"I'm no mystic, and my point is--that thing did not need to be brought
aboard. It seems like she has a staff, and not a crew. Unless they are
part of her overall plan, most suggestions are dismissed before they
are voiced-particularly your advice, Chakotay. How can you be her XO
when she treats you with such contempt?"
Chakotay stood up, and walked around, uncertain of how to explain what
he had to say.
"That's simple, Tom. I'm not her XO. This ship hasn't had an XO since
you recovered the ship from The Kazon, or at least since we lost Kes.
No, I'm just next senior officer. This ship is run by fiat, Captain
Janeway's fiat. I'm a creature of the background, now. Get used to it--
because I have."
Paris found that all the dark thoughts he had felt about the near-
vanishing of the ship's First Officer were being given voice—by the
man himself.
"I can't believe you're saying all this. Chakotay--you just declared
yourself useless. I'm sorry, but how can you do your job, believing
that?"
"Hold on, Paris. I said I wasn't XO--I never said I served no purpose.
My function rivals Be’lanna's engines in terms of its importance. I am
a Hayoka."
"Gesundheit. Okay, I'll bite--what is a Hayoka?"
"Among my people, a Hayoka is a shaman chosen by The Unseen Guides to
take the evil of the world unto himself. When he dies, The Guides grab
up that evil and burn it, ending its threat forever. I served that
function with The Maquis. And not too long after I left----"
Scared that he was falling into all this, Tom completed Chakotay's
words.
"The Maquis fell under the control of glory-hounds like Eddington-and
were destroyed. No, that has to be a coincidence. What about all the
bad things? What about poor Durst? That Vidian slime cut his face off
to try and impress Be’lanna! Where were you then?"
Chakotay remained calm; as well he might, moving in realms that were
as familiar to him as the gas clouds in The Badlands.
"That wasn't my job. This ship has had at least five Hayokas, and each
has served a different purpose. That type of evil is what I've come to
call the 'Hungry Ghost' syndrome. Like dead, vengeful spirits, groups
like The Kazon, The Vidians, and many others when this journey started
saw us as a collection of spare parts, to be used as soon as they
could get their hands on us. But one of us was far too clever. She
took their appetites and caused them to become sloppy, and mistake-
prone. She ultimately absorbed far too much chaos and had to leave us.
Mark me, though, she will be back, having destroyed a series of still
greater evils."
"Kes. Ok--was it her or you that made the Maquis-Starfleet tensions
disappear? In for a penny, in for a pound, Sir."
Chakotay suppressed a grin. Tom understood him very well and even
believing, sarcasm aside.
"Neither. It was Tuvok. Clever like Coyote, he trapped that nascent
rebellion in his secret holo-simulation. Unfortunately, like another,
more animated Coyote, his trap backfired when Seska's evil set it
against him. But his cleverness worked in its first goal. Yet he was
Kes's teacher, and her errors were his. Without knowing it, he is
trying to capture the tensions of an entire crew towards its Captain.
If he does not change his approach, I fear for our stoic friend, Tom.
Especially if-his time should arrive, and we are not back home."
The strange words made a kind of over-sense to Tom, so he canned most
of his further quips.
"Alright, so who are numbers four and five?"
"Easy. Seven arrived to deal with The Time Draggers. They are ancient
things that trick you into giving up your whole life in exchange for a
false promise of changing the past. Seven will, in her way, keep
reminding us that things are almost exactly as they were meant to be.
Those countless temporal anomalies--are only the beginning of our
troubles with The Keepers Of Days--and I don't mean Braxton, either."
Tom went for broke.
"Who--is number five? Be’lanna, because she represents dichotomy?"
"You think too small, Tom. Dichotomy is nothing. No, the fifth is the
ship's center of gravity, that person who defines the ship's true
direction. That individual takes in the evils of misdirection and
purposelessness. The others all count on him to keep things even, and
then trust nature to provide the rest."
"Him? Weren't you just talking about Captain Janeway?"
"No. Kathryn is at the top of this ship, not the center. She is a
brilliant Captain, and she will get this ship home. But having been
the victim of the Caretaker's selfish, desperate, unthinking evil, she
can never be Hayoka--nor was she ever meant to be. C'mon, Tom. Make
the connection. You know who this ship turns to, when it can't find
the way. Think about how you gathered the evil of The Captain's
resentment towards those of us who had violated her orders, and took
it unto yourself."
"So it’s me? I'm the fifth Hayoka?"
"Who better? Unlike the rest of us, you can take in nearly infinite
evil and destroy it before your death."
"Let's say I accept this. What do I do from here? How do I use what
you've told me?"
"Simple. You Wake Up, Tom."
-----------------------------------------
2382
"Wake up, Tom! The Captain needs you on The Bridge."
He knew this was coming, ever since the most recent losses.
“You can take Miral today? It was my turn.”
Torres nodded.
“The Doctor made a non-painful hemming-in field for me to set up near
my office. We’ll be good.”
Paris made a quick courtesy call on secured quarters, perhaps pushing
his luck a bit, but Janeway would understand.
“Mister Paris.”
“You know, no one demanded that you lock yourself up. You’re not so
far gone that you can’t work reduced duty.”
Tuvok shook his head.
“My thanks, Tom. But like Mister Suder before me, it is no longer the
certainty that I might lash out, but rather the possibility, that we
must beware of. A certainty can be planned against. A possibility can
actually be more dangerous, doubly so with my knowledge of ship’s
systems and procedures.”
Tom was on a deadline, and so chose not to point out that a semi-lucid
Tuvok still had enough chops to easily get out of his cyber-locked
quarters if he really wanted to.
The trip to the Bridge was a quick enough one, though pressure did its
job to make it feel exactly the reverse.
“Sorry for the delay, Captain. I think that if I don’t annoy Tuvok at
least once a day, he gets upset.”
For the first time since he had known her, Tom Paris saw the strains
of command fully visible on Kathryn Janeway’s face.
“I’m glad you do. I haven’t been to see him since the away mission
went nova on us. In case you haven’t guessed already, that’s why
you’re here.
Paris sat down as she bid.
“I had guessed. That takes me out of Security, but I think Gerron is
ready to step up. He’s been praying to the Prophets for Tuvok’s
recovery. Problem is, if what the Doc is saying is true, it would take
a divine force or a Q to make him well again. Ma’am, are you sure you
don’t want Harry? He obeys. I’ve been known to have a problem with
that.”
“Harry’s been in Astrometrics since we lost Annika, and that’s where I
want him. He has that extra pip he went on about forever, he’s been
brilliant at it, and he’s bringing the kids up to speed for when the
time comes.”
*Big Sister*, he thought, *you look so damned tired.*
“Tom, this ship just lost its first officer. Can you and will you
replace him?”
Paris shrugged.
“I can take over as First Officer. But as to replacing Chakotay? No in
a lot of respects. Including, I’m afraid, putting up with your crap,
Captain.”
She breathed in, quite audibly.
“Explain and defend that statement.”
“I will. Chakotay needed to step aside, so that this very lost ship
would not also become a divided one. By shutting himself down long
before you ever did, he gave this ship a unity some crews who started
out together never get. But he forgot or never learned how to step
forward again. I can’t be that way. I have to be a real First Officer,
and sometimes, that means forcing the Captain to listen when she does
not want to. You override me, that’s your right, but we do it quietly.
You are the Captain of Voyager. You no longer need to prove that to
the people you raised up and trained, if you ever did. You’re one of
the greats, Kathryn. We are some of your best work, so if you want me
to ramrod for you, you also have to listen to us one hell of a lot
more than you have.”
The fact that she wasn’t exploding in raw fury gave him hope.
“You have something on your mind, as regards my not listening?”
“Frankly, yes. Harry warned you that the newly-in-love Annika was
ignoring away team safety procedures. We all warned you that Tuvok was
not recovering well from the Borg and then the Maquis mental
intrusions. No one should have had to warn you that a First Officer
with a badly broken heart was taking unnecessary risks with his life.
You put me in that seat as your back-up, than back up is what you will
have to do on the odd occasion. Not because I’m always right, but
because no is always right, even you.”
Janeway seemed honestly taken aback.
“Did I get that bad?”
“You needed to be that bad—or rather that way. We were alone, and the
only thing we seemed to have an ample supply of was shuttlecrafts.
Now, we have regular contact with Starfleet and contacts across the
quadrant—including the odd folks here and there who claim they know
us, and that we helped them out before we ever met them.”
Janeway nodded.
“Never have figured that one out, but I’ll take what free love I can
get. You’re saying this is a new era?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I have to step up to earn this position back from you,
and you need to step up to a Kathryn Janeway more like the one you
would have been, minus the Caretaker. We’re still in a desperate
situation, but thanks to you and Chakotay, rest his soul, it’s a very
different kind of desperate. You’ll still take the reins hard,
sometimes—that’s just a given. But you can best honor the man whose
job I’m taking by using the capital he helped you build with this
crew.”
She sighed.
“No promises, Tom. But I am listening. Make up a report by week’s end,
in-between doing your new job. One last thing.”
“Ma’am?”
“Is there anyone on this ship who you think could force me to listen,
issues of rank and protocol aside?”
Paris smiled.
“Even with your position put aside, Captain—the only person who could
ever win that kind of argument with you—is you.”
He left, remembering the dream of Chakotay from a happier time, and
never truly realizing that the ship’s last remaining Hayoka had given
his Captain a new direction to follow. For in a time still to come,
Admiral Janeway would again heed his words about winning an argument
with herself. When she undertook steps to alter the timeline and bring
Voyager home after only seven years, one of her chief steps in
planning involved practice holo-arguments with her third Executive
Officer, using the confidence given her by the second to hold that
position.
After all, it was the only way Kathryn Janeway could ever hope to win
an argument with Kathryn Janeway.