Paris and the Sisters

Chapter One

"Can you hurry it up already?" A man asked as Tom Paris continued to work on the device before him.

He was keeping a nervous watch while Tom worked. The dull lights of the Cardassian refinery make his task difficult and his backup wasn't helping matters either with his constant fretting. The bomb he was putting into place was a delicate beast of a machine designed for damage and making the area it exploded in generally unpleasant to be around. Like his companion he wanted to be out of the area as soon as possible but not because of the guards.

They were in one of the ore processing rooms that was currently inactive. The small alcove they were in kept them hidden from anyone not looking directly into it and would make for a good chamber for the explosion to fire out of. The only reason they had this time to work with was due to a bajoran resistance cell, working with his own Maquis force, hitting the place earlier today. The idea itself was simple, bomb the place with a Bajoran style attack and immediately follow up with their own Maquis forces to keep the cardassians off balance.

"Uhh… Tom? We got guards coming…" His backup whispered as Tom himself heard the repeating footsteps of the Cardassian guards approaching.

"You start heading out, I'll finish up here and meet up with you at the base." He said not looking up from his work."

"What you can't…" He was about to protest further when he heard the guards getting closer.

For a brief moment it seemed to Tom that his backup would actually stay despite his suggestion. In the next second he heard the fluttering of cloth against metal and the echoing sound of him moving through the vents. It didn't take long for the sound of the guards footsteps to drown out the sound of his companion escaping. Connecting the last relay Tom stood up and backed away into the shadowed corner of the alcove. He saw the bomb lights flashing and the countdown had begun. Readying his phaser he waited for the guards to approach.

"So I told him that if he kept using the butt of his gun to open Kanar bottles it would eventually happen." One of the guards said as they approached.

"Complete waste of the bottle and his rifle- Hey was that always there?" The second guard said as they both stopped at the threshold.

The other guard readied his battle rifle and let his companion approach the bomb Tom had just been working on, "Don't tell me…" He said covering his companion.

"Yeah it's a bomb… again. The air vent over here is off!" The second guard said kneeling near it and looking in.

"Can you see anything?" The other asked.

"Yeah something's moving further down the line!" He said reading his rifle and aiming it down the vent.

"If you could not shoot my companion that would be great." Tom said stepping out of the shadows and calmly firing his phaser at the first guard.

The second, realizing Tom was behind him, struggled to get up from where he was aiming his gun only to get shot a moment later. Walking up to the first guard he shot Tom began to drag the body into the alcove and put it against the wall to avoid anyone seeing it. Just as he was about to climb into the vent to catch up with his friend he felt a shocking blow to his shoulder that sent him reeling into the wall.

Sliding down into a sitting position he looked up to see a third guard holding his rifle directly at him, "Not only do I not have to listen to my companions stupid chatter but I get to capture a terrorist and help save the refinery from being destroyed. I think this will earn me a nice promotion and earn you an extended stay in one of our prisons. That's assuming you don't resist and give me an excuse to gun you down right here and now." He said leveling the rifle at Tom.

"You know… I never really considered myself a martyr." Tom said with a weak smile.

"Thats a good little terrorist." The guard replied.

"I'm just saying that so you don't get the wrong idea…" Tom said.

"Wrong idea?" The guard asked.

"Just that you think I'd be doing this for the cause and not because Cardassian prisons are hell on earth." He said pulling out his phaser and firing it at the bomb.

The Cardassian had just enough time to scream 'No' before the world was enveloped in white light.

Despite knowing he was dead Tom couldn't help but wonder how he was able to think about it when, by all rights, his brain should be paste against a now highly irradiated refinery wall. He could only see blackness before he realized his eyes were still closed. Slowly opening them his vision was met with blinding white light like someone turned on the lights too quickly. Trying to bring his hand up to his eyes he realized his shoulder was still in pain and moving his body wasn't much of an option right now.

"Such an utterly dull way to die don't you think?" A voice said interrupting his musings.

"W-what?" He tried to look about but couldn't see anything due to the light.

"Regardless a friend of mine has an interest in the best and brightest our little universe has to offer. So while you may be dead back in our galaxy theirs has a rather spacious spot for a Tom Paris. Enjoy your newfound life. I know I wouldn't" He said with an almost mocking tone.

Before Tom could figure out what was going on the world enveloped him with white again and he passed out.

The first thing Tom heard when he felt his consciousness return was the sounds of chaos. People in the streets screaming and crying in terror, footsteps of thousands of people, and the sound of thunder in the distance. He was still groggy and trying to get his head in order. If there was one thing he found out with his brush with death it was that his rebirth wiped him out more than an entire week of binge drinking on Ryza.

As he started to collect himself and get up from where he lay he realized his clothes were covered in some disgusting liquid that had gathered where he lay. Looking back and forth he realized why he was covered in filth. The alleyway had a small drainage canal leading down it's length and he had ended up in the center of it. It was when he noticed this that his olfactory senses came back to him and he realized just how bad the alleyway smelled.

Pushing the smell and thought of what he was laying in out of his mind he looked towards the end of the alleyway. He could see the movement of hundreds of people rushing past and it was clear many of the terrified voices and cries came from them. It was at this time he began to feel as if something was wrong as the thunder continued to rumble off in the distance.

He knew stepping out into the mass of people would be a very bad idea when he was still groggy. So he leaned against the alley wall and waited. The crowds never noticed him as they rushed away and after several long minutes he was left with only the stragglers who were carrying too much to move quickly. Throughout the wait the thunder never ceased and he was getting a sinking feeling he knew why.

Stepping out into the light of the main street he looked over at the backs of the people fleeing in terror and began to think that he should join them in fleeing. He didn't know what was going on but he knew when that many people all agree on leaving an area it is a good idea to follow suit. Looking back the other way he saw nothing but deserted streets filled with the remains of what people dropped when running away.

Trying to shake off any remaining grogginess he began to stumble away from his alleyway and towards the mass of fleeing people. Running was still too much and a limping walk was all he could manage. As he moved through the streets he took some time to glance about at the architecture of the place.

The entire road was flanked by massive cathedral like buildings that shot upward and scraped the sky above. Looking down one of the streets he saw the buildings continuously dwarfed by taller structures that grew bigger and bigger as they moved away from him. Eventually all the buildings were dwarfed by a massive superstructure in the center that put even the most impressive federation building to shame.

It was at the sight of this superstructure that Tom finally realized what was bothering him about the thunder. Flashes of light all along the superstructure that shot glowing yellow spheres off into the distance allowed him to put two and two together and realize that it wasn't thunder but artillery that he was hearing. Thousands upon thousands of guns were firing from the main structure off into the distance somewhere outside the city. The civilians were fleeing in the opposite direction of the artillery barrage.

Looking back at the street Tom finally found someone who wasn't fleeing in terror. He was standing around a metal vehicle of a make and model Tom couldn't figure out. He was pulling things off the top of the car and giving the vehicle a good kick every now and then while venting his frustration.

"Excuse me sir." Tom ask hoping he could understand the man, "Can you tell me what's going on?"

It was much to Tom's relief that he understood the man, at least the words he spoke. The dialect wasn't much different than his own speech but it seemed to be both more ancient and at the same time more broken. He could only describe it as some bastard offspring of latin that had been clubbed to death one too many times and now spoke with a southern ghetto drawl. It didn't help his understanding that he was screaming obscenities at both him and the car the entire time.

Before Tom could understand what the man was screaming about the man threw up his hands grabbed what he had pulled off his car and began running along the same path as the fleeing citizens. Tom was left with more questions than answers now. Before he could mull over what the man had screamed about he felt himself blown to the floor by an explosion that nearly deafened him.

Looking up at the source he saw the top of the superstructure in the center of the city had exploded like a volcano. His ears were ringing as he watched a giant spire of purple energy shoot upwards into the sky from the center. The pillar of energy began merging with the sky above and the normally blueish hue of the atmosphere of the planet began to darken and replace itself with the same purple color.

As the sky darkened Tom felt his entire body shiver as the screaming voices of the fleeing people suddenly grew in volume and carried a more horrified panicked tone to them. The shift unnerved him to his very core. Hearing something crash behind him he turned around and understood with frightening clarity why the screaming changed.

What had crawled out of the alleyway was something that utterly confused every sense Tom had. It's skin was a sickly white a pale color that he only saw on people who had lost massive amounts of blood. It's hair was gone completely replaced with a mass of writhing tentacles that swayed back and forth in an almost seductive manner. Three pairs of breasts adorned it's chest and every single one had it's nipples pierced and chained together. One of it's arms was normal until it's wrist when it changed from human flesh to a chitinous claw while it's other normal arm was bleeding from a wound at the shoulder. The only clothes it wore was around it's waist, a thin sheer cloth that barely covered up whatever it might have where it's crotch was.

Tom could see every aspect of the creature as it began to slowly walk towards him, it's hips swaying back and forth with each step. His mind clearly understood this thing as evil and disgusting yet he felt himself wanting to walk towards it. To embrace the creature and hold it in his arms, to make love to it and let it have it's way with him every conceivable way. Confusion reigned in his head as his mind screamed at himself for even having such a thought. Each step made it worse as more images of the debase and hedonistic things he do with it flooded his thoughts.

His reverence was broken when two men in combat fatigues rounded the corner, "Damn man, there's tha bitch! Finish tha damnable thing off!" One shouted with an accent so thick Tom barely understood him.

Both leveled their rifles at the creature as it turned towards the two with a hiss. It's attention shifted elsewhere Tom felt his body responding to his mind again and he ducked down behind the car as the sound of a rapid cracking noise filled the streets. A guttural unnatural scream filled the air then was cut short with a weaker gurgling cry followed by a dull thud. Catching his breath he leaned over the edge of the car and looked over at the two men as they approached the corpse.

"Whoa we got a civie here!" One of the guards said leveling his rifle at him.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot!" Tom said holding up his hands to show he was unarmed.

"No sudden moves boy." The first guards said moving in a slow circle around the car to get a better view of him, "Aye, what inna name of the God Emperor are you doing out boy? Dinna you get tha evac notice?"

Tom slowly stood up and kept his hands raised while the other moved closer to him. While the guard looked him over Tom glanced over at the creature that had just been advancing on him. It's body was smoking from several holes the guards weapons punched into it. Laying face down on the street unmoving made Tom wonder what the hell it was that could confuse him so much.

"Careful where you put those eyes of yours." The guard said tensing up after he looked over Tom, "We don't need any more reasons to think you're some sort of cultist."

"Cultist?" Tom asked genuinely confused, "What's going on. Where am I? What is this place?"

"Tha damn man is daft in the head." The second guard said at his questions, "Why dinna ya get to tha damned shelter?"

"Shelter? What-is-going-on?" Tom cried out with exasperation, "I woke up in an alleyway and I have no clue where I am or what's going on!"

"Kid, we got a job to do and we can't babysit you here. Run down that street as fast as you can you'll see a fortress about three miles down. Go to the gates and get put in a damn shelter. With any luck you'll be able to join a convoy out of the city." He said pointing down the street, "We can't take care of you so once you start running DO-NOT-STOP!"

"But… what's going on?" Tom asked with an exasperated tone.

"Dinna ya notice the damned spire shootin it's load inta the sky? Chaos has come ta town and they're damning everythin in sight! Now get going mate!" The second guardsman said before pushing Tom in the direction of the fortress.

It was surprisingly easy to find the facility even if it wasn't in a straight line from where he was. Guards, APCs, and tanks were constantly rolling out it's massive gate and moving down the street where he was coming from. The shelter itself was far more than just a bunker to hide it. A literal fortress rested on top of the shelter ramps leading down into the bowels of the building. Walls surrounded the facility and when Tom got closer to the main gate he realized that the walls themselves not only were several hundred feet high but at least two dozen feet thick.

Reaching the gate he was treated to another round of inspection as the guards there gave him a pat down for anything he might be carrying. His tricorder got a few strange looks but the guards had bigger things to worry about so he was passed through with little fanfair. As he moved into the fortress he had to keep an eye out for moving patrols and vehicles as they simply pushed him out of the way if he got even close to them. Dodging the people and tanks that were moving out to reinforce the city he made it to one of the ramps leading down to the bowels of the fortress.

As he approached the shelter a robed man approached him. If the demon before confused him this man unnerved him. Attached to his chest was what looked to be an old earth typewriter above him flew a tiny baby with several robotic implants and what looked to be wings from some bird grafted onto it's back. In the baby's robotic hands it held several rolls of paper and as the man filled on one of those rolls on his typewriter he passed it off to the child for a new empty one.

"Name and hab block residence?" He asked with a slow drawl.

"Uh… Tom… Tom Paris… I don't have a hab block residence. I… just arrived." He said muddling through the half-truth as he tried to shake of the unease the man gave him.

"Tom Paris, Immigrant. You will need to address your transfer superior at your earliest convenience. You are in a restricted city for immigrants. Upon seeing your superior you will be punished in accordance to Imperial standards. Do not be late to this punishment date. Proceed." The man said finishing a bit of furious typing and waving him through the threshold.

Not wanting to cause trouble Tom decided to play the part and moved past the man while keeping his head down. Moving past the secretary and his cherubim, shuddering while it watched him pass, he moved into the shelter. The first thing that caught his eye was that the shelter had levels.

Four massive metal pillars occupied the center and went down to the floor supporting the structure above. He saw it would take at least five of him holding hands to circle even one. They all went down five levels to the bottom. From there Tom could make out the structure expanding further than the base levels. Each level had it's fair share of huddled masses but the majority were gathered at the bottom.

As he moved through he tried his best to listen in on conversations that he passed by. Many were just talking about loved ones they couldn't find and things they had to leave to reach the shelter. One group of men near a burning fire barrel caught his attention when one mentioned the attack.

He moved close to the fire barrel to get warm and began to listen in on the man talking, "I tell you… none of the defense forces knew about this attack until five minutes after it happened." He said as the others around the barrel listened in.

"What about the nobles? I thought they would always try to save their own hide. Were they really clueless?" One of the others asked.

"Nobles?" The man said spitting into the barrel before lowering his voice, "You didn't hear it from me but I got a good source that says it was THEM who organized this. That's why no one knew. They kept everyone in the dark the entire time."

"No way… what the heck did they expect to happen with you deal with… ya know… chaos?" Another said clearly in shock before barely whispering the last word.

The knowledgeable man chuckled to the surprise of everyone around them, "You guys don't quite appreciate the way things went down here. I was part of the administration for the spaceport. I had to deal with all the stuff moving to and from the Tycho landing pad. While the nobles planned their little soul selling, the Imperium with the PDF were landing troops all across the planet. The Imps didn't like the lackluster tithes that were coming out of our world recently and were planning a coup under general Carson. The only reason the Nobles didn't get to backstab everyone was because they were already being backstabbed!" He finished with a laugh.

The rest of the group laughed along with him. Tom could hear in their voices the nervousness that belied their response. Knowing he'd likely just get strange looks if he asked for details about what was going on he opted instead to move away from the barrel and down some of the levels to the lower portions. Moving down the stairs he approached the bottom floor.

The bottom floor was spacious beyond his expectations. The main room was larger than the previous levels and each wall led off down multiple corridors that were lined with solid metal doors. The people gathered around them and glancing inside one he saw several cots built into the wall. He got the idea of what the place was supposed to do. Anyone attacking and trying to get to the people would have to clear hundreds of rooms one by one. A time consuming process and each room looked easily defendable.

Moving to a corner he sat down and ran a hand through his hair. He tried to take stock of what happened to him but every time his mind recalled what happened he found himself in a state of disbelief. He died and got resurrected and dumped on some foreign planet with only his clothes and tricorder. As much as he wanted to figure something out he couldn't help but feel his eyes begin to close and sleep start to creep up on him. Knowing he wasn't going to come to any conclusions he did his best to get comfortable and let sleep take him.

A few hours later he felt himself shaken awake by something. Rubbing away the sleep from his eyes he looked up at a disheveled woman smiling down at him with a look of envy. She was carrying two children as she addressed him. One looked about five riding on her back and his sibling looked less than a year old and was carried in her arms. They both watched Tom with curiosity rather than envy like their mother.

"I must say I've never seen a person sleep so soundly as you do. I'm kind of envious." She said with a small smile.

"Oh… thanks for waking me." Tom replied getting up and look about.

The shelter was abuzz with movement and people. The refugees were slowly shifting towards the stairs. Tom wasn't sure what was going on and he realized his face showed it when the woman spoke up again.

"We're getting moved to Arcus city. The outer hives aren't safe anymore." She said frowning, "I guess I'm not going to see my home again anytime soon."

"If it's any consolation my home is on a different planet." Tom said as he moved towards the stairs with her.

"Oh you've traveled in space? How lucky. I hoped to one day go on a pilgrimage but now…" She said sadly.

A pall hung over them as the conversation died, "So… your children keep you from sleep soundly I take it?" Tom asked trying to break the awkward silence.

"What? No their little angels. Its just life here…" She replied with a smile that convinced him he had missed something.

As they approached the entrance Tom saw a pale purple light coming from the ramp leading in. At first he thought it was some trick of the overhead lights. When he got outside he realized it was far worse than that. The reaction of the mother convinced him it was even worse that what he could possible imagine.

Her face was covered with a look of abject terror as she watched the sky. "God emperor preserve our souls…" She said as her children began to cry and others around him uttered their own prayers.

The sky above was completely covered by purple clouds that billowed and rolled across the sky. They formed black patches that, when gathered together, would explode with the sound of thunder. The thunder was then followed by bolts of lightning arcing across the sky. All the while the world was tinted a dark purple hue. Tom wasn't sure what was happening but the sinking feeling in his gut told him it wasn't good.