Presence

by John Blonde

Introduction:

The work that follows is based on characters from Star Trek: Voyager. It is unintentionally AU (alternate universe). The fanfiction stories it is based upon were written long before anyone knew what the powers that be at Paramount had planned for Deep Space Nine. It is not AU in that the characters are different, though they are projected as having changed in response to time and experience. Simply, the circumstances of this version of the Star Trek Universe branch off from canon.

First, Voyager returned to the alpha quadrant while the war with the Dominion was still going on. Second, that war has continued in a long struggle and across much of space, much like the way World War II leaked into Africa and flourished also in the East. Third, unlike WW II, the third ally of the enemy (Japan, or the Breen in ST terms) never arose, nor have the Romulans (Russia) entered the war; and thus the balance of power has remained fairly even, with the Federation steadily gaining ground. Fourth, there are several Changlings in the alpha quadrant. Again, these alternates were logical extensions from what we knew about the canon STU when BratKatze first wrote 'Today.'

When I read the suite I was stunned in a number of fashions, both personal and 'writerly'. After reading those stories I was left with an image that opens this novel, and wrote to whitecrow and BratKatze to ask whether I could play too. This particular sandbox was just too tempting. I had a general story outline, an idea of how the characters had responded to the events of the war, and an itch to write. Bless 'em, they let me at it.

whitecrow has been with me through all of this, criticizing the writing while letting me reveal the plot, and has helped me to cut scenes that didn't work. The opening chapter you'll see here is much refined from its first incarnation over a year ago, and most of the honing has been long after the fact, after I'd absorbed the lessons that my more-than-beta reader gently taught me over the first dozen chapters. She has kicked my butt in her polite way, and if I have an affecting facility with words, I owe most of it to her. Dad raised me up to be Conan the Grammarian, but the whitecrow lent a few of her feathers to help me build my wings and escape the dull ground of grammar.

What the reader needs to know from the previous stories:

-- Chakotay and Tom Paris were lovers by the end of Voyager's journey. Their relationship was a deepening partnership.

-- Tom Paris was the only member of Voyager's crew denied his field commision by Starfleet. Tom found out about this before the official announcement, and disappeared. He tried to visit his father, but was denied even recognition, and it's clear that Admiral Paris was behind Starfleet's decision about Tom's status. Tom drops completely out of sight after the visit, not trusting his Voyager companions to fight for him, and not wanting them to wreck their careers by doing so.

-- Harry Kim and B'Elanna Torres married and had a child. They divorced, due to Harry's reaction to seeing his former fiancee, Libby. "If I'd only known you waited for me..." B'Elanna never forgave him.

-- Paris crawls back into the metaphorical bottle, this time resorting also to drugs, such as one called 'Violet'. He ends up having to literally whore his way off a place called Ursula's Moon, finds Sandrine's daughter who nurses him back to sobriety, and sits one day in her garden with a knife, looking at his wrists.

-- Instead of killing himself, Paris leaves to join the quazi-legal Runners, private citizens with ships who do what Starfleet cannot or will not do. He is almost killed by the Jem'Hadar, and it is Captain Chakotay's ship that rescues him. Their feelings for each other are still present, but lie deep under anger and resentment on Chakotay's part, and shame and defensiveness on Tom's part. The collision results in the breaking of a bowl that Tom made for Chakotay back in the delta quadrant.

-- Paris becomes quite famous as a Runner, seeing Chakotay every few months, often with the excuse of collecting intelligence from or give it to Starfleet. He rescues prisoners, supplies troops cut off from normal lines, and generally makes a hero of himself. Tom Paris is more famous than his father ever dreamed, but his father still will not recognize him.

-- A Changeling murders Admiral Paris.

Those are the bare facts behind some very fine writing from BratKatze and the whitecrow.

And now I give you my contribution. In the text * indicates a change in point of view, and *--* indicates either a jump in time or in place, or both.

Some of the themes I used have shown up in Voyager and in fanfic, but I have witnesses to say that those parts were written before the episodes in question aired or the stories were posted. Great minds, and all that.

John

"The impetus that makes you fly is our great human possession. Everybody has it. It is the feeling of being linked with the roots of power, but one soon becomes afraid of this feeling. It's damned dangerous! That is why most people shed their wings and prefer to walk and obey the law. But not you. You go on flying. And look! You discover that you gradually begin to master your flight..." Herman Hesse, Demain

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