A Hot Cup of Coffee
Part 4 of 5
Synopsis: The saga about coffee... and having too much of it.
A Hot Cup of Coffee
Janeway resisted the sudden urge to kick the rubble at her feet across the remains of Sickbay. Kim and Paris had disintegrated so completely, only the barest traces of their atoms could be detected. All around the room, blackened medical instruments lay where the explosions had tossed them and each was obviously useless.
"Captain," Tuvok's thoughts interrupted her silent fury. "I believe the bomb, unlike the murderer's previous style, was a simple, chemically-based incendiary device. The catalyst appears to be some of Sickbay's own bio-mimetic gel."
The captain seethed. The killer was clever and inventive, but nothing compared to Tom Paris himself, the very mastermind behind the whole affair. "Who all could have had access to the gel?"
Tuvok's face grew passive as he glanced down at his padd, fingers dancing as he made calculations. "Over the past three weeks, only Lieutenant Paris and the Doctor have had access to the gel. However, if I widen the time frame to three months, fifty-seven crewmen would fit into that category."
"Cross-reference those people with the list Harry and B'Elanna compiled."
"Twenty-four crewmen remain on the list, Captain."
Janeway did something she hadn't done since she was an ensign. She swore explicitly, earning an upraised eyebrow from Tuvok.
* * *
"Mom?"
"Yes, Naomi?"
"When is Tom coming back? He promised he'd teach me poker."
Samantha Wildman coughed. "Poker?"
The little girl giggled. "He told me that if I told you that, you'd make a funny face! He was right!" Despite herself, the ensign laughed with her daughter.
"Really, Mom, when's Tom coming back? He said he'd teach me..." Her knobby brow furrowed. "He said he'd teach me 'Crazy Eights.' "
Wildman had dreaded the moment she was ever forced to tell Naomi about death and dying, but it now seemed commonplace, following Neelix's death. She silently commended the real Tom Paris for having given her the opportunity to practice.
"Naomi," she began, straightening. "Tom—isn't coming back."
The little girl was silent before whispering, "Like Neelix?"
Samantha nodded. "Like Neelix, honey."
She frowned. "Okay. Mom, can you bring Ashley here?"
"Sure," Samantha replied. With one last pat for Naomi's hand, she returned to the main area and retrieved the adorable doll. "Here you go, Naomi."
Naomi wrapped her arms around the doll and sighed contentedly. Samantha had turned to leave when her daughter suddenly asked, "What's that whining noise?" Ensign Wildman took two steps before all hell broke loose.
* * *
"Ensign Wildman and Captain Janeway have lost the game," the computer stated.
"What happened?" Janeway demanded. "I was on the turbolift!"
Chakotay turned to her, shaking his head. "The power grid on decks five through twelve blew. Somebody caused a power-relay overload."
It took all of her control for Janeway to keep from slamming her head into the wall. Instead, she smiled gently. "Well, Commander," she called over her shoulder as she strode out the doors, "looks like Voyager is all yours."
* * *
After she left the holodeck, she decided to head to Main Engineering to see how her chief helmsman was doing. She found him sitting quietly in a corner, staring at the panel in front of him. The screen before him was split in two, and he was watching intently as Seven of Nine and Chakotay checked sensor readings.
"Tom."
He jumped and turned around. "Oh, hello, Captain. Seven and Chakotay have just found out that the relay overload was remotely controlled. B'Elanna just found out that there are only nine people left on the list of suspects and all of them are on the engineering team. She's on her way down there now."
Janeway found a chair and pulled it up. She watched as Lieutenant Torres stepped into a turbolift and ordered it to engineering. Suddenly, Tom's hand shot forward. He tapped several buttons quickly.
The lights in B'Elanna's lift went out. "Tom, what are you doing?" Janeway asked.
Tom grinned sheepishly. "It's a little idea I picked up from Seska. Since I never actually finished writing the full story, I left the narrative parameters open so I could toy around with them."
She gasped. "That's cheating, lieutenant. It's no wonder we couldn't catch the killer!"
"You could if you knew who she or he was. It's been the same, one person the whole time," he smiled broadly. "But now B'Elanna and Chakotay are going to have a harder time finding out who did it."
The captain stood. "You're impossible."
"I know."
* * *
"Torres to Chakotay."
Chakotay slapped his hand to his commbadge so hard he had an imprint on his hand. "Go ahead, B'Elanna."
"What the hell just happened? I was on my way to engineering when power cut out!"
"Come back to the bridge, B'Elanna. Engineering suffered a heavy coolant leak. There's nobody left and ventilation is offline."
"What?!" she roared. "I'm going to kill that sorry son of a—"
"Tom or the killer?"
"BOTH! I'm on my way, Torres out."