After the little spat with Garek in Engineering -- actually, it had been more than a 'spat'; she'd slugged him across the jaw -- Kim ran without conscious direction through the empty, clanging corridors of the station. Her brain was all awhirl; feelings of anger, confusion, hurt, as well as her more tender feeling toward Garek were all mixed together in a hopeless tangle. They came and went so quickly in an endless circular procession that Kim hardly knew how she felt.
Finally, her fleeing feet slowed and her rasping breath calmed enough for her to look around. She'd never been in this part of the station before, and wasn't really sure exactly where she was. By the slightly dingy look of things, it was one of the lesser-used areas, and judging by the massive double doors spaced at regular intervals down the corridor, it was a bulk storage sector somewhere on the lower decks.
She heaved a ragged sigh and slumped against a wall. The adrenaline rush was wearing off now, leaving her physically and emotionally drained. Gravity dragged at her limbs, and pulled her unresisting slowly to the deck, leaving a trail down the side of the wall where her sleeve wiped away a layer of dust.
Alone, crouching on the floor, she hugged her legs tightly to her chest and let her forehead come to rest on her knees. Then the tears began to flow....
Back in Engineering...
After Garek had recovered from the shock of Kim's unprovoked attack on him, he had demanded an explanation from Carter. As she went over the unlikely sequence of events that had led up to the incident, Garek's facial expression became more and more incredulous.
When Carter was done, he just shook his head in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding!" he exclaimed. "Me and you?!? Together?!? That's nuts!" he laughed.
"Yeah, nuts...," repeated Carter. "Ha ha...." She tried to laugh off the whole thing too, but her "ha-ha's" came out sounding a little forced, and she quickly changed the subject, hoping Garek hadn't noticed. "Listen, it's not your fault. I know how she is." She looked in the direction in which Kim left the bay. "I just don't know how I'm going to talk her down. I'll go after Kimmie..."
"Hold up, Commander," said Garek. "I think it'll be best if I talk to her first. Chances are, she won't want to believe a word you say."
Carter sighed, and eventually agreed. "Alright. I'll check in with you later." Lee turned, and left engineering.
Garek turned the corner into the main corridor of the engineering deck after Lee left Engineering. He saw Kim leaning up against the corridor wall, her head in her hands. "Kim, we need to talk."
"I've got nothing to say to you," she replied with the ever present edge of disdain in her voice.
"I know what you're thinking. You think I'm lying to you. You think I'm involved with Lee. You think Lee's been lying to you this entire time about her and my 'supposive' relationship, and you're also asking yourself 'What does Garek see in her? I'm much better looking in a bikini then she is.' Well, you're right, you do." Garek smiled, trying to get closer to her.
"You damned Betazoids!" Kim pushed Garek away with one arm. She wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye. "Stay out of my head!" She sniffled once, and then brought her eyes up to meet his. "I don't know if I can believe you. I don't know if I can trust Lee either." She turned, and headed down the corridor towards the turbolift.
"Kim wait!" Garek called out, but it was to no avail. Kim stepped onto the turbolift. Garek saw a small engineering kit laying in the corridor. Using his telekenesis, he picked it up, and through it violently across the corridor. The kit's box hit the wall, cracking open, tools flying everywhere.
Kim proceeded down the corridor away from Garek as fast as her legs would carry her."The big dumb jerk," she said to the empty corridor.
But the corridor answered. "He really must be a big dumb jerk to leave someone as pretty as you all alone down here."
Kim caught her breath and spun on her heals. She came face-to-face with a tall man. Somehow he had managed to come up right behind here without her noticing. Her Starfleet training automatically kicked in and she quickly sized him up.
He was tall and lean, almost rangy, and the muscles in his arms could be seen rippling under his somewhat shabby clothes when he moved. His hair was dark, turning gray at the temples, and was close-shorn, and he wore a neatly-trimmed goatee. His eyes struck Kim especially though -- there was something compelling about them. They hinted at some deep secret of his soul -- some terrible ordeal he had suffered in his past was lurking just below the surface. But for all that, they were kind, gentle eyes, and matched the smile he wore.
His comment though about Garek shook Kim back to reality -- turns out she'd been staring at the stranger -- and prompted an automatic response: "Well, he's--" but then she remembered she was mad at Garek and stopped short in her defense of him.
Then, remembering her duty, she tried to stand a little straighter and look as "official" as she could, then asked, "Who are you? What are you doing down here? This area is off-limits to civilians, you know." A sudden nagging feeling struck her then. She looked at the stranger critically for a few moments, then asked, "And why do you look familiar?"
The tall stranger raised his hands before him as if to ward off the onslaught of questions. He laughed charmingly and said. "Whoa. Slow down, miss." Now it was his turn to size up Kimmie. She felt a little self-conscious under his scrutiny, but strangely excited by it at the same time. His mind was quickly made up about her however, because he lowered his voice and whispered conspiratorially, "Can I trust you?"
Kim knew immediately that she was heading for trouble, but for some reason, she didn't really care right now. If she had been in her right mind, she would have realized that she wasn't in her right mind....
"Yes," she found herself answering this mysterious, yet somehow familiar-looking stranger.
He smiled that charming smile at her again, and said, "Good. Follow me." He walked off down the corridor, with Kim following close behind. A voice in the back of her head was telling her that this guy shouldn't be here -- that he was up to no good, but another voice told her that she could always call for help if the situation turned ugly.
The stranger reached the end of the main corridor, then turned left and proceeded down an even less used gangway. At the end of that, a ladder led even further down into the uninhabited bowels of the station. He slid down the ladder with practiced ease, and after a mere moment's hesitation, Kim followed him down into the darkness below.
They emerged into a vast machinery space. "Where are we?" asked Kim, shivering in the sudden cold. "We must be right next to the outer hull here." The temperature had dropped so much her breath steamed in the air.
"That's right," said the stranger, turning, his own words coming out in puffs of smoke. He had continued forward, and now stopped to beckon Kim to keep following.
Pushing her caution back, she complied, but more warily. They walked for a while more, ever deeper into the maze of machinery. Evidently, life support here was kept at a minimum, for the temperature dropped until Kim's teeth chattered, and as she followed this mysterious man deeper into unknown territory, she began wondering if the chattering was because of the cold, or because of fright and nervousness.
But as they rounded the corner of a huge machine block, she saw that there was no trap waiting for her, rather the cheerfully flickering flames of a small fire. It was carefully built inside a ring of self-sealing stembolts out of pieces of what looked like used to be a wooden packing crate.
The tall stranger had rounded the campfire and hunkered down beside it and began warming his hands. A breath of errant warmness caressed her cheek, and she hurried to join him there and drive the bitter cold of space away.
After a few minutes of vigorous hand rubbing and waiting for the tall stranger to answer the questions she'd put to him up in the cargo area, Kim could stand it no longer. The man didn't seem interested in opening up to her, and she wondered why he'd asked her to come down here. He seemed contented to just hunch there before the fire warming himself.
On a crowded, busy station, the only place that Garek called his own (besides his quarters) was the Lambda Flier. The clean, mechanical air cycling through the ship, along with the silence of its personal docking bay was a welcome one. The day had not gone according to plan. Very little had been discovered about the Mulluran weaponry, the first real love of his life believed he was cheating, and the recurring headaches he had were getting worse. He would have to talk to Doctor Varl about them sometime. Not now though. Garek laid down on one of the fold down bench seats in the rear compartment of the Flier. He closed his eyes when he was awakened by a banging on the hull plating.
Somewhat confused, Garek walked to the rear of the craft, and tapped the control panel. The hatch opened upwards, and the ramp folded down to the deck. Standing outside was Paul Deveraux. "Paul. Well, this is unexpected."
"I did not mean to catch you at a bad time mon ami," Paul replied. He was back in his uniform, and out of the standard brig wear that he had been put in onboard the Arizona.
"Oh, not at all. Come on up." Garek motioned for Paul to ascent the ramp and into the Flier. Paul nodded, and walked up the ramp into the interior of the craft.
"Zis is nice Commander. I did not realize zhat zis craft is classified as a "luxury cruizer." Paul grinned, taking a seat at the small fold down table on the port side of the craft. Garek sat down in the seat across from him. "I need to talk to you about somezhing."
"Of course," Garek replied. "What is it Paul?"
"I need you to go into my head for ze truth. Kassia is psychic and all, but from what she has told me, you are one of ze most powerful Betazoids she 'as seen. I need you to show ze Captain zat I can be trusted." Paul gave Garek probably the most sincere look he has ever seen. Paul did want to set the record straight, and have his good name restored, good being used loosely.
Garek nodded. "Alright, but I'm going to need you to relax." Garek placed his hands near the sides of Paul's head. Images began to flash through Garek's mind. They flashed from Commander Carter, to images of him fighting in combat, to different archaeological digs. Then, the one image that Garek was looking for occupied his mind. The image contained Vince Kelly. Lieutenant Kelly was entering information into the computer using Paul's access codes. Kelly then reached down to his boot, and activated a device. His image was holographically changed to Paul's. He took a patch, and placed it on his throat. Kelly then activated the computer terminal and began talking.
~"Zee Starfleet wants you to leave your home, but I have an idea for a fail safe defense plans..."~ The small conversation continued on for a few minutes before the communication closed. Kelly then deactivated the holographic projector, and took the voice synthesizer off of his throat. He quickly stood up, and made his way to the bridge. Paul hugged the wall, being sure to stay out of sight of Kelly.
Garek opened his eyes to see Paul looking at him. "Did you find anyzhing?" Paul asked.
"I think so..."
"I hope so," Paul commented. He reclined back in the seat. "By ze way, I saw Tycho heading through engineering into the storage decks. She seemed upset. What's going on between you two?"
"Computer, locate Lieutenant Kim Tycho," Garek asked with much haste.
[Lieutenant Kimberly Tycho is in corridor 47-D.]
"What? That's impossible. That's just down the corridor!" exclaimed Garek. "Paul, see yourself out whenever. I've got to take care of something."
"Not a problem mon ami," Paul yelled down the ramp as Garek left the Flier.
Moments later in Corridor 47-D...
When Garek arrived, he found exactly what he knew he'd find: Kim's communicator pin lying on the deck, knocked off during her hasty flight.
He sighed heavily and muttered, "Finding her is going to be harder than I thought...."
Kim was tired of waiting. She mustered her nerve and asked the stranger again, this time with a real edge of steel in her voice," So, just who are you, mister?"
The man continued staring into the fire as if he hadn't heard her for a long moment more, then slowly raised his head and turned those volume-speaking eyes of his toward her. In a calm voice, he said simply, "You can call me Tom."
Kim's jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock and recognition. She knew she'd seen this person before, and now she remembered! After all these years... No wonder his eyes spoke of secret unspeakable horrors -- what abominations this man must have witnessed and experienced firsthand. Now he was here, hunched over a fire not five feet in front of her.
Thomas Riker!