"Hey Doc! Whats up?" Called Paul from his barstool.
Cherrin turned to see who had called and saw Paul gently swaying back and for in his chair.
"Paul, when I said it's good to see you back on your feet, I didn't expect you to go drinking and ending up back in my sickbay!"
"Relax Doc... I be fine, I no drink too much, no?"
"OK then fine"
"Come and.. come and join me doc"
"I don't know, I'm not much of a drinker."
"Go on! Ya know ya wanna"
"Well, mayeb one won't hurt."
"Tha's ze spirit! BAR KEEP!!!" Paul shouted banging on the bar. "I'll ave a... another one of zese for ma friend ere" he said as he slapped the doc across the back. THe barman smiled as he got another drink for Doctor Cherrin.
"So where ya been doc? I aint seen you awound for a while"
"Paul, you were in sickbay only yesterday recovering from those flashbacks you were having... I met you for lunch just today." Paul looked slightly confused for a minute
"Ahhh yeah....! Sorry doc, I aint thinking... thinking..."
"Straight?"
"Sraight! yeah!"
"Paul, how much have you drank?" Paul started counting on his hands, when he counted ten and continued counting on his first hand again, Alistair shook his head.
"Come on Paul, I'll get you home."
"I sink... zat may be a idea.. "
"Come on then"
Alistair pulled paul off and let him stand freely. Paul walked off toward the door and Alistair walked closely behind ready to grab Paul should he fall. As they left the bar, the infamous banshee squadron entered and made their way for an empty table on the far side of the bar.
"Hi zere" said Paul stumbling over to one of them. "And what iz your name?"
"Lee Carter" she replied removing Pauls arm from her shoulder.
"Ow would ya like to come back to ma quarters with me beautiful?"
Lee gave him a mean right hook sending him to the floor.
"I'm so sorry about this" said Alistair bending down to pull Paul up off the floor who was wiping the blood from his lip.
"It's ok, just make sure he gets home safe" she said with a smile as she walked off to join the rest of her squad.
"Paul, you fool!" Cherrin said as he pulled him up.
"She wanted me... you could tell!"
"I'm sure she did Paul. Lets get you home."
Deverauxs Quarters...
"I'll come round in the morning to check up on you ok?" Alistair said as he headed to the door
"Wha... whatever.." said Paul as he fell asleep on the couch.
It wasn't long before Paul found himself walking through a large open corn field. He pulled his hand through the ears as he walked. He heard some rustling to the left of him so he headed toward it curious to find out what it was.
As he approached, a large alien emerged from the corn, brandishing a knife. Paul recognised the alien from the skirmish on New Canada. He reached for his claw to defend himself, but it wasnt there. He turned to run and found himself running down one of the many corridors of SB901. Again, one of the aliens stepped around the corner before him. Paul panicked and turned to rurn back the way he came. One of the aliens was behind him and thrust a knife into Pauls stomach.
Paul woke up and ran to the bathroom in his quarters where he threw up. Ohh man! I gotta stop drinkin Paul, feeling slightly better than before managed to find his way to his bedroom and collapsed on his bed.
"Hey, ze most fearsome sing I encountered was twice my size. We found zem when I waz on ze USS Discovery. Zey were called Proktolans, evil serpent sings."
"Don't sound too friendly?"
"Zey weren't zey continually attacked us, many times boarding us and almost taking over ze ship."
"Sounds almost like what happened to me when I was on the USS Voyager!"
"You were on Voyager??"
"I was her pilot... Tom Paris, and you are?"
"Paul Deveraux, Chief Science Officer of ze Toussaint L'Ouverture"
"Well, Paul, when I was on Voyager, there were these nomadic people called Hirogen. They often attacked us and once actually captured Voyager. If it weren't for Seven Of Nine and the Doc, who knows what would have happened."
"Ahh, luckily it was never quite zat bad for us, but we lost a lot of good people out zere."
"I can imagine. Lemme give you a bit of advice, if you ever encounter a Hirogen hunter, you'd better be pretty damn good at running!"
"Ok, what do zey look like?"
"Huge things, about 7 foot tall! Reptilian skin, reddy brown around the face, really scaley. Carry huge weapons and where body armour."
"I will watch myself, but I can't imagine myself encountering one unless I am in ze Delta quadrant."
"True... Anyway, I need to be getting back to Voyager." Paris got up and left the bar with a short funny looking alien that Paul had never seen before. "Come on Neelix, time to go" he said. Paul turned around and got back to his drinking.
Paul woke up the next morning to find Alistair shaking him awake.
"How you feeling this morning Paul?"
"HIROGEN!!"
"Excuse me?"
"I ave to see Captain Wallace immediately!"
Paul didnt bother to shower, shave or get changed, he just ran out of his quarters leaving Alistair standing there dumbfounded as to what was going on.