Harry Kim stood at his station, diligent as always. He watched the little graphs and numbers change on the screen, and listened to the reassuring beeps. And then he noticed something. The beeps were becoming different, but no one else seemed to notice. The beeps seemed to be whispering to him sinisterly. "What do you want?" Kim said softly.
"Kill him," the beeps urged. Kim blinked.
"Who?"
"You know who..."
"No I don't," he replied, looking up suddenly to make sure no one had noticed he was talking to his console. The rest of the bridge crew seemed oblivious, so he returned his attention to the console, "Who do you want me to kill?"
"Must I spell it out? T-O-M. Remember what he did to you? He told you Seven was never going to notice you, what kind of friend is that? Kill him, for always making you feel so unimportant, and using you for his schemes, and making you look bad in front of the other senior officers. Kill, kill, kill."
"No, that's not true," Kim stuttered. "Tom is my friend. I can't kill him."
"Then the others are right, you are a wuss," the beeps hissed.
"What others?"
"All the others," said the beeps. "But Tom was their leader."
"That's not true!" Kim said louder. Tuvok raised a brow, but no one else seemed to notice.
"It's very true. Very true. Kill him, Harry. Kill kill kill. Kill kill kill."
"Stop it!" Kim shouted, and pounded his fist into the console. Janeway looked over at him in surprise.
"Ensign, do you have a problem with the joke I was telling Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Paris?" Her eyes fixed on him, making him pale under their ice cold glare.
"N-no Captain, of course not." He went back to staring at his console, but not without noticing how they'd all looked at him, or rather, through him. *Maybe the console is right,* he thought, even Tom is snickering, giving me that 'way to go Harry' look.
The hiss of the console filled his brain, "Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill."
"Kill.." Harry echoed softly. "How would I do it?" "You be creative Harry.. you're always so bright and creative... kill him.."
Harry swallowed nervously. "All right."
"Alright what, Harry?" Janeway asked. Oops. Apparently he'd spoken too loudly again.
"Nothing Captain, just thinking aloud." His eyes narrowed when she turned back around, shaking her head at him, maybe he would take care of her too. He thought about it, how to 'off' Tom, he wanted them to know it was him, but if he got thrown in the brig, that would be no fun. He punched in a few commands on his console, rerouted some insignificant power from unused relays, patched threw a few non essential electrical pathways, and sent it all surging to the helm console. *Good bye asshole* he thought to himself. A slight smile lit up his face when the console blew, sending Tom flying backwards, he landed on Janeway. Harry fought the laugh that bubbled inside of him.
"Shit!" Janeway cried out suddenly in surprise, clambering to get Tom off of her. "What the hell happened?"
"Captain, there is no need for that kind of language," Tuvok said evenly, not appearing to notice Tom's form on the floor.
"I'd beg to differ," Janeway snapped. "Now I want to know what happened, and I want to know now."
She looked at Harry, who shrugged. "The sensors aren't showing anything unusual."
"She doesn't believe you," the console hissed. "Kill her too."
Harry stared at her, she looked at Tuvok, the console was right, she didn't believe him. She was asking Tuvok what had happened, how is it, she always believed him, but never me? Harry's eyes narrowed, *she doesn't deserve to live,* he thought. *She takes everything for granted, doesn't let us close to her, doesn't care that we give her our all, she is constantly asking for more. And makes us feel badly when we just can't give it,* anger boiled inside of him, he punched the console again.
Janeway looked at him suddenly. "Harry?"
"I'm sorry Captain, my hands hurted," Harry said.
"I would imagine," Janeway said slowly. She noticed Kim's hand moving underneath his console. Tuvok realized what he was doing before the Captain did, and shot with his phaser the ensign before he could pull out his own.
"Thank you, Tuvok," Janeway said uneasily. She turned to Chakotay. "Have them beamed to sickbay." Her commands were followed quickly. She sat down in her chair. "Someone find out what's going on."
"I'll tell you what's going on," a voice hissed. Janeway looked at Chakotay suddenly, but he was engrossed in reading something. He hadn't even noticed the explosion and phaser fire.
She looked around the rest of the bridge, but no one was addressing her, that she could see. She sat back, attributing it to nerves, or stress. "I said, I'll tell you what is going on. They're trying to take over your ship, they don't trust you, or want you anymore. Just look at the big oaf next to you, when was the last time he called you Kathryn, or tried to convince you to be with him? It's been a while hasn't it, because no one cares anymore. They've only kept you this long as a figure head, an ornament, they felt pity is all."
"That's ridiculous," Janeway said softly, making sure no one noticed. She didn't want to end up like Harry, after all.
"Is it? What do you do that makes them want you?"
"I'm a good Captain."
"They don't think so."
Janeway frowned. "Who doesn't?"
"None of them do.. they'd all like to see you gone.. especially Chakotay. He's been itching to sit in the big chair lately."
Janeway's gaze darted quickly to her first officer.
He continued to read, not noticing her, not doing as she'd told him to. She frowned, he had been doing a lot of that lately, hadn't he. Her eyes narrowed and darted to Tuvok, he cared, he had to, but even he was just standing there, his eyes fixed on the young lieutenant who'd taken Harry's station. *Humph,* she thought, *just like a man, to be staring at a beautiful woman when he should be doing as told.*
"Well," the voice said, "what are you going to do, just sit there like the dumb oaf? Or take some action, you do remember what that is don't you?"
"He is a big dumb oaf, isn't it," Janeway said softly.
"Very," the voice affirmed. Janeway swallowed.
"What should I do?"
"Kill him."
Janeway paused. "I'm not sure if I can."
"Why not? It isn't as if there's any romance between you."
"True."
Janeway looked at Chakotay again, studying him for weaknesses. There were a lot, now that she looked. It wouldn't be too hard to off him before he decided to turn against her.
She thought about how to do it, and smiled wickedly, there really was only one thing she'd always wanted to do, and it would serve him right. "Chakotay," she leaned over, whispering softly.
"Yes," he replied back, just as quietly, almost without interest.
"I've always wondered, do you come to the bridge with your fly open on purpose, or do you just forget to close it after you're done playing with yourself?"
He didn't have time to reply, as he sat there staring at her in shock and utter embarrassment she reached into the medkit behind her command console. She pulled out a hypospray and injected him with it, then smiled as he slowly sank to the floor.
"Oops, my bad," Janeway said. Tuvok looked down from his station at her.
"Captain?"
"Don't worry.. he's just taking a little nap," Janeway assured him. Tuvok nodded after a moment. She looked down at Chakotay, who didn't move. "I hope he doesn't start a stink after awhile," she said to herself.
From his station, Tuvok looked at the Captain in concern. She was acting unusual, are were many of the bridge crew today. He shrugged, humans were often unusual and irrational. Instead he turned his attention back to the beautiful brunette at Kim's station, his bondmate, Lt. Seanna McTiernan.
Back in her seat, the voice hissed at Kathryn again, "You're not finished yet, one more to go. Look at how he doesn't' even care that you've gotten rid of Chakotay, he only has eyes for that tramp, you know the one. The beautiful one, the one they are always saying would make a great captain one day. You know, I think she has it in for your job, you should kill them, kill them both. Him first, then her. Kill, kill kill."
Janeway looked at the two people, gazing at each other from across the Bridge. "She is very.. levelheaded.. she would make a good Captain, wouldn't she?"
"The crew seems to think so," the voice hissed. "So kill her.."
"She could be more difficult," Janeway said softly. "Tuvok is watching her."
"Then kill them both at the same time."
A slight smile crept onto Janeway's face. "What a wonderful idea." She tried to punch in the controls, but the console just wouldn't work, "How do I kill them together? Short of phasering them both, but that isn't any fun!" She thought about it, "I'll just kill Tuvok first, besides, he was the one who betray me the most, he deserves to die alone!" She reached into her boot and pulled out a survival knife, for some reason she was wearing it today, she ignored the questions in her head and hurled it at him. Tuvok never knew what hit him, never even knew where it came from. The knife struck him in the throat, immediately slicing the arteries, slowly, he sank to his knees, trying to breath. The only sounds he made were the gurgling and sputtering of a dying man.
Seanna's scream filled the bridge, she ran to his side. As she bent over him, pulling his head into her lap, and sobbing quietly, a voice tapped into her brain. "Hey, hush for a second, you can do plenty of that later. Do you see what she did, what she did to your Tuvie?"
"Who?" she sniffled, looking around, she hadn't seen who'd thrown the knife.
"The Captain, who else would kill this senselessly, she's ruthless. She always has been, she killed Chakotay without even a glance, or a bit of sorrow, and he was in love with her, the poor sap. You should kill her now, revenge your mate's death. Think what she could do to you, she's probably already planning your death."
"Is she?" Seanna said softly.
"Yes.. you'd better think of something quick." In her chair Janeway was studying Tuvok's mate with an uncertain eye.
"What to do.." she said softly. And then it struck her. An idea. Seanna's eyes glazed over, she pulled the knife from Tuvok and stifling a whimper at the slight popping sound it made, stood and walked toward the captain. She held the knife out of sight as she approached, "Captain, I believe you misplaced something," she hadn't spoken until she stood right in front of the command chair.
She held out the knife, staring into Janeway's eyes as light reflected off the blade. "I just thought I should bring it to you, so it could be put where it belongs." With that she drove the knife forward, not stopping until it had been driven through Janeway's scull, right between her eyes. Seanna stepped back as the captain slumped forward, blood flowing from the fatal wound, down her face. She smiled, the very tip of the long blade could be seen protruding from the back of the captain's prone form.
A slow demonic smile spread across her face, "You're dismissed Captain." Then she turned and walked back up to the upper level, to where Tuvok still lay. She pulled him back into her lap and had the Computer transport them to sickbay, she new it was a futile move, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
A little while later, the Doctor was shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Seanna, there's nothing that can be done."
"I don't know what happened," she whispered, staring down at her hands. The Doctor noticed the gesture.
He frowned. "Let me see your hands." Unsure as to why, Seanna held her palms up. "Why do you have red blood on your hands?" the Doctor asked. Seanna paled for a moment.
"I don't know..."
"She killed the Captain," a voice rasped into the Doctor's program. He blinked. Seanna looked back down again.
The Doctor turned around, facing a surgery table. "What?"
"She did it, just try," the voice rasped. The Doctor frowned.
He tapped his combadge, "Doctor to the Captain, I'm afraid I have to announce some bad tidings." He waited. No response. He tried again, but still no answer. He turned and looked at Seanna, who returned the gaze blankly.
"See, what did I tell you," the voice hissed, "she killed the captain, you know she wants the 'big chair', and I bet she could have it too."
The doctor backed up and turned to stare at the surgery table, the voice continued to vibrate through his holographic scull, "Think about it, you just told her you couldn't do anything for her lover, so the first thing she'll do as captain is have your program deleted. Are you going to sit around and let her do that? Look at her face, if she's capable of killing Janeway, she's capable of anything."
"I don't understand," he whispered.
"She wants to get rid of you, that's all that there is to understand," the voice tingled the hologram's ears. "You have to stop her."
The Doctor swallowed, eyeing the instruments on the table. What to do...He reached out and picked up the heaviest device available-a dermal sealer--and turned back slowly to Seanna.
"Do it," the voice hissed.
"Really, Seanna, I think you should go."
"Why?" she looked up.
"Well.. there's nothing for you to do here."
"But I don't want to leave Tuvok," Seanna protested.
"He's already left you," the Doctor said. After a moment's hesitation, Seanna nodded and began to leave Sickbay.
When her back was to him he stepped forward, drawing his arm back. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he brought his arm down with as much force as he could muster. The voice in his head screamed, "Kill! kill! kill!" The sealer casing hit the back of Seanna's head hard. There was a sickening crack, and then a very brief moan from the woman. She slumped to the floor, something of an unusual and detestable color oozing from the point of impact.
The Doctor blanched, dropping the dermal sealer in horror as he realized what he had done. "Oh my..." he said, his hands trembling. He brought his hands up to his face. "I swore I would do no harm... and now look what I've done..."
"It had to be done.." the voice, now seeming distant, whispered to him. The Doctor remained standing in his odd position for several minutes, until the Sickbay doors opened and someone stepped into the room.
"Doctor!" B'Elanna Torres cried in surprise.
The doctor's head jerked up, "Lieutenant Torres! I didn't mean it, really I didn't. It was an accident I swear." He began to fidget as she walked toward him, an unusual expression on her face.
"Just *what* may I ask, did you do?" She stared at McTiernan's crumpled body, then at the EMH.
"Well.. its like this, you see... um, I uh..." the memories of the event already fading.
"Out with it!" She growled impatiently.
"He's a killer," a strange voice sounded in Torres's mind. She blinked. "He killed her, and Tuvok.. and the others... and now he's going to kill you..."
"What did you do," Torres repeated slowly. The Doctor pressed his fingers together nervously.
"I honestly don't know anymore."
"I think you do," she reached down and picked up the dermal sealer, "you killed Seanna didn't you?" She studied it, and then him, "You're supposed to be a doctor," her voice began to rise, "how the hell could you kill her! Now who am I supposed to play practical jokes with? TOM?"
"Honestly Lieutenant, you should do something about that temper of yours, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"He killed Tom too," the voice whispered. "And he bashed Seanna's brains out with that sealer... and now he's going to attack you with that hypospray.. inject you with a biotoxin..."
Torres paled. "He wouldn't."
"You have to stop him, or he'll kill off everyone on the whole ship. You remember that other hologram you met, don't you? He's probably becoming just like him..."
"My god," Torres whispered weakly. The Doctor shifted on his feet, and losing her nerve Torres spoke. "Computer, end holographic program." The Doctor flickered, but didn't disappear. Torres leapt for the nearest console and began to type in commands.
"Lieutenant, what you doing?" the Doctor demanded. He suddenly screamed, grabbing his head. "What are you doing?!" Torres finished the last command, and stepped back. The Doctor began to warp and flicker. He screamed again in holographic pain, and then with a burst disappeared.
B'Elanna slumped against the console, her chest heaving, "Good job," the voice hissed. She looked around again, then began to feel weird, being alone in sickbay, surrounded by a bunch of corpses. She shook herself as she left, people, what she needed right now was people, so she decided to head toward the mess hall.
Neelix smiled brightly at her frazzled expression as she entered the Mess Hall. "Well, Lt. Torres, you certainly look worse for wear," he said. Noticing the way her hands were clenched, he cleared his throat. "Can you use anything? Perhaps something to calm your nerves."
"I'm fine, Neelix, really," B'Elanna said softly. "I just felt like I needed company."
"Well you've certainly come to the right place," Neelix smiled. "Do you need to talk about anything?"
She looked at the Talaxian thoughtfully. "No," she finally said, "I don't need to talk, I just need to be around people." She shuffled off to a table then, deciding to sit alone in the corner of the room.
Neelix watched her go, "As if she'd speak to you," a voice murmured in his ear.
He looked around quickly, "Who said that?"
"I did," the voice whispered again. "She thinks you are a freak, she wouldn't talk to you if you were the last senior officer aboard Voyager. Oops, that's right, you are the last senior officer aboard, well, besides Torres herself."
"What are you talking about?" Neelix frowned.
"I speak only the truth.. and the truth is that she hates you. She wants you dead. In fact, everyone does."
"That's not true," he retorted weakly.
"It is very very true, I'm afraid. That is why you have to stop them, starting with Torres."
"But if I kill her, then everyone will like me even less," Neelix said.
"Does that matter? If they don't like it, you can kill them. It's that easy."
"I don't know," he whined.
"Oh come on Neelix, for once, be a man. Just think, they might not be so annoyed with you, they may actually be frightened of you for once. There would be no more taunting the little Talaxian, they wouldn't make fun of your cooking anymore. And Neelix, just think," the voice paused dramatically, "who is the one person aboard this ship who has never criticized your cooking...it's the doctor isn't it?"
Neelix nodded slowly, "Yes, it is." His eyes widened, "What did she do to the doctor?"
"She scrambled his program, not even Zimmerman himself could repair the damage its so bad. The doctor is gone, finished, deleted, dead to the world. And she did it, she got rid of him, she'll get rid of you too."
"No, that's not possible," he said weakly.
"Neelix, my dear, anything is possible.."
"What can I do?" Neelix wondered.
"Why not avenge his death?" the voice suggested.
"How would I do that?"
"Do I have to explain everything?" the voice sighed. "You have to kill her."
"Kill her?!" Neelix repeated, appalled. "I couldn't do that... could I?"
"Of course you can. And you have to."
"How?" He began to look around the mess hall, and his little kitchen, there didn't seem to be anything there he could use as a weapon.
"Poison her," the voice suggested, "make it slow, and painful, make sure she knows you did it."
He thought about it for a minute, "Well, I do have a few spices, that when mixed together can be fatal, but I've never thought of using them that way."
"Then do it, do it now, quick before she can get you!" The voice was becoming urgent, impatient.
He nodded, finally making a decision, "Alright I will, I'll get her for what she done." The little man marched into his kitchen and began mixing spices into a drink. As soon as his terrible concoction--which admittedly even he wouldn't consider drinking because of the smell--was complete, Neelix darted stealthily from the kitchen, and up to Torres's table.
He cleared his throat, and he looked up. "Yes, Neelix?"
"Well, I thought you might be wanting a drink to keep you company," Neelix said. He set the glass in front of her.
She sniffed skeptically. "Does everything you cook smell funny?" Torres muttered to herself. Neelix could almost hear the voice laughing in his ear.
"It called the Militaakan spice drink," Neelix said. "It calms the nerves." Torres made a slight face.
"If it will make you happy," she said finally.
"Oh, it'll make me very happy," Neelix said with a smile. "It's a killer drink."
"I bet," Torres sniffed a laugh, and brought the glass to her lips. She took a swallow, and looked at Neelix. It was only a few seconds before her eyes bulged suddenly. She opened her mouth and began to gasp, her hands rushing up to clutch her burning chest, "Neelix," she managed to rasp. She tried to get up from the table, but fell to the floor instead. She reached out for him, but he sidestepped her and she fell forward. She tried to breathe, but only succeeded in making sick gasping noises. "Sssssss," Torres managed to hiss as a strange fluid began to trickle down the side of her mouth.
Neelix bent over her. "Oh dear," he said, "I didn't know the power of my own cooking."
"Seveennn...." Torres gurgled.
"What's that?" Neelix smiled cruelly.
"Seven," Torres gasped.
"Seven..."
"Seven..."
"Seven!"
With a start, Seven of Nine jerked awake. She looked around. She was standing in her alcove, in cargo bay two. After a moment Seven's eyes settled on the form standing in front of her. Janeway had one hand on her hip and dropped the other from Seven's shoulder.
"Decided to rejoin the land of the living did we?" She said, a crooked smile on her face.
Seven stepped out of the alcove, "You don't know the half of it." At the Captain's quizzical look she continued, "The doctor mentioned the lower level of regeneration could cause hallucinations or weird dreams. I experienced one of the latter, every member of the senior staff became occupied with murdering another member, until only Neelix remained."
"That is a bit frightening," Janeway chuckled.
"Indeed. It was very.. unsettling."
"Well," Janeway said with the crooked grin returning, "why don't we go down to the Mess Hall and find something to help get rid of those nightmares? Something to drink maybe?" Seven froze where she was standing, and did a double take at the Captain. "What?" Janeway said, puzzled.
Seven seemed to think for a moment, and then nodded. "A drink will be sufficient. As long as..."
"Hmm?"
"As long as Neelix doesn't touch it."
Janeway smiled in amusement. "Anything you like..."
END!
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