Unworthy - Kirsten Beyer [30]
Harry Kim had suffered perhaps more than his fair share of doubts about this mission when he’d first been briefed, but after a few weeks settling in with the old and new faces all around him, he was finally starting to enjoy himself again.
Tom remained a little distant whether their communications were surreptitiously written or spoken, but that was due primarily to the incredibly heavy workload he carried as Voyager’s first officer. Less than a month ago, Harry had been the one to tell Tom that his wife and daughter had been killed during the Borg Invasion of the Alpha quadrant. Tom and B’Elanna had been formally separated for months, and they hadn’t lived as a family for more than three years. Yet, it amazed Harry that Tom was able to continue to perform his duties while the pain he had to be carrying weighed down on him. The few times Harry had pressed his best friend, Tom had refused to discuss it. Privately, Harry worried that Tom might be mired in the denial stage of the grieving process, but he had no idea how to help him move beyond it.
With Captain Eden otherwise occupied, Tom sat in the center seat, constantly monitoring ship-wide reports and activities from the data panel embedded in the arm of the chair. Harry had his own work to do at tactical. As security chief, he was responsible for a staff of fifty and had drilled them mercilessly during the test runs. Prior to the unexpected arrival of Chakotay and Seven, Kim had been dying to get a closer look at the Galen. The Doctor’s early reports of the progress of the Emergency Security Holograms created for that vessel had made him wonder if he would be augmenting his staff in a similar manner at some point. His experience with a wide variety of holograms made Harry conscious of the weaknesses that went along with their strengths. He was content that the Galen be the first to thoroughly test these new holograms but he was considering a proposal to crosstrain his staff with Captain Glenn’s at the first opportunity.
A discreet blip on his comm panel alerted him to a message from Lasren. He quickly locked down his panel and walked the few paces to the first post he had occupied aboard Voyager— ops.
“Problem, Ensign?” he asked under his breath.
“I think it’s a glitch,” Lasren replied, pointing to his display. “The new comm relays send out a lot of interference while they’re synchronizing, but during that last burst I thought I saw an actual carrier wave.”
“Show me,” Harry instructed. He loved his job at tactical, but he’d never forget the seven years he’d spent in Lasren’s current shoes. The young Betazoid was by no means a novice. He’d held his post for almost three years, including during the battle at the Azure Nebula where hundreds of Starfleet vessels had been destroyed in minutes and Harry had sustained critical injuries. To this day Kim believed it had been a miracle Voyager had escaped annihilation. Lasren was tough and incredibly conscientious. But like Harry, back in the day, he sometimes missed the forest while engrossed in the study of a particularly interesting tree.
Kim took a moment to scan the reading and much to his alarm found himself agreeing with Lasren. He nodded silently to the ensign and moved to take the seat beside Tom.
“Something wrong, Harry?” Paris asked softly without looking up.
“I don’t want to sound paranoid,” Harry began.
“Too late,” Tom noted with a faint smile.
“Someone on this ship just piggybacked an unauthorized transmission onto one of our new relay signals.”
“Why would anyone do that?” Tom wondered aloud.
“I don’t know, but given the strength, it looks like whoever did was sending that message pretty far.”
“How far?”
“Maybe as far as the Delta quadrant.”
Tom’s face fell into more serious lines. “I’ll check it out.”
“You want some help?”
“No.” Tom shook his head. “I got it.”
“Okay,” Harry replied, rising. “Want to grab dinner after our shift?” He’d been making similar offers for days but Tom had continued to distance himself by begging off each time.
Tom shocked Kim by