Klingon Hearts 09 Hidden - What Lurks in the Darkness Page 7

"There are -far- too many bossy men around here lately," K'Leena grumbled.

  "That's what I keep saying," Tessa laughed and Mike shot her an annoyed look.

  "K'Leena, please, I just want to make sure you and the baby are all right. A fall like that can cause damage that isn't apparent right away."

  At Robbie's words she settled back onto the pillow quietly. "I could lose the baby?" she asked fearfully.

  "I'm not going to let that happen, just relax," Robbie told her as he scanned with the tricorder.

  "Are you in any pain?" he asked gently, she opened her mouth and he continued. "The truth, K'Leena, it's important."

  "Yeah, a little," she admitted.

  "Where?"

  "Along my side where I fell on the rocks."

  "Check for an abruption," Tom told his son, hovering over his children.

  Robbie nodded and scanned her abdomen. "Some moderate bruising, no sign of an abruption, thank goodness."

  "Make sure to scan for...," Tom began again.

  "Dad," Robbie said, exasperated. "I do know what I'm doing here, you're not the only doctor in the family."

  "I've been a doctor since before you were born, Robert Owen Paris, now do as I tell you."

  Robbie looked at his Dad, then over to his Mother. "Mom, get him out of here before -he- needs medical attention."

  B'Elanna laughed and grabbed Tom's hand, pulling him away.

  "Come along, Dr. Paris, haven't you ever heard the one about too many cooks spoiling the soup?"

  "Damned arrogant kids," Tom grumbled under his breath.

  *****

  Kyle found Lucas almost immediately, down by the beach. The storm was intensifying.

  "They're gone, Lucas," he yelled through the thunder.

  "I know, they were gone as soon as they missed their chance at K'Leena." Lucas turned toward his brother and they headed back to the house.

  "What the hell is going on?" Kyle asked.

  "I wish I knew."

  Lucas ate up the distance to the house with huge strides, he needed to see K'Leena. Make sure she was okay.

  Lucas!

  I'm coming.

  They reached the house a minute later and K'Leena flew into his arms the instant he was inside the doors.

  "It's okay, I'm here," he soothed her. "Are you all right?"

  She nodded. "Just some cuts and bruises, Robbie fixed me up."

  "I still want her off her feet for the next couple of days. Just to be on the safe side," Robbie told Lucas, knowing K'Leena would ignore his instructions.

  Lucas nodded and picked K'Leena up. "We're going to spend the rest of the night here," he told her.

  "Do you think they'll come back?" she asked as he carried her to the empty downstairs bedroom.

  "No, I want to be close to Robbie in case you need him."

  "What a way to spend our wedding night, huh?"

  "Just once, Blaze, I think I'd like a little less excitement in our lives, you know?" he asked ruefully

  "Yeah, I know."

  *****

  ...and taunts....

  They were hiding something. Both of them. They knew what this was all about and had no intention of telling him. Lucas was getting angrier by the minute. He couldn't even read their thoughts. Being involved with empathic mates for so many years, both his father and Tom were able to block him. That in itself was rather interesting--it took a great deal of mental discipline to lock out a telepath as strong as himself.

  "So that's it? Just 'We'll handle it Lucas.' Go about your life like nothing is wrong?"

  "You don't need to concern yourself with this any longer," his father told him.

  "Leave it to us," Tom said.

  "This is -my- family that is being threatened," his voice was deadly quiet. "-My- wife, -my- child! I've been watched and manipulated for -months- now. I can't keep them safe if I don't know what the threat is. Where it's coming from. Don't you understand? This may have started with the two of you, but it's about -me- now. For some reason that only you know, it has become imperative for these people to control -me-. Nothing is sacred to them. My own son was conceived because of their designs. I can't walk away from it and I will not 'leave it alone'. Not unless you can give me a -damn- good reason!"

  "That is precisely why you -have- to, Lucas," his father told him. "You're too close to it, you can't see the danger."

  "I am better equipped to deal with this type of situation than either one of you are. I've been -trained- for this, dammit! This is what I do. You wouldn't know where to even start."

  "There are things you don't know, Lucas," Will said. "Tom and I can handle this, trust us."

  "I can't."

  "Then I'll make it an order, Lieutenant. You will drop this matter immediately," Tom said firmly.

  The pair faced each other. Eyes battled. For an instant, Tom thought he was going to have to defend himself and he began to doubt the wisdom of crossing Lucas like this. Suddenly, the younger man backed down.

  "Yes, sir!" Lucas ground out between gritted teeth, then turned on his heel and left the office.

  "He's not going to follow that order, Tom," Admiral Riker said. He knew his son, Lucas would not drop this.

  "I know...I'm counting on it."

  *****

  Lucas entered his apartment, tossing his mission case on the couch in disgust. Then he realized how dark and quiet everything was. K'Leena was here, he could feel her. He went in search of his wife.

  Curled up in the middle of the bed, sound asleep at eight in the evening, was his wife. Lucas frowned. The pregnancy was harder on her than she admitted. You couldn't miss the constant tiredness in her or relentless morning sickness. Lucas was glad she'd been put on restricted duty. She couldn't have handled anything more. He had the feeling the Doctor was going to pull her off duty completely the next time she saw him. It was not an argument he was looking forward to. The Doc warned them hybrid pregnancies could be difficult. K'Leena, of course, wouldn't admit to any of it. She was just fine, thank you very much. With a shake of his head, he took off his clothes and slipped into bed as softly as he could to pull her into his arms.

  "Lucas?" she whispered.

  "Shhhh...," he hushed her. His hand moved over her slightly rounded stomach. She was carrying the baby like a Klingon pregnancy, deep within her pelvis. At almost six months she barely looked pregnant, but the unfortunate side effect was the never ending backache she endured. "How's your back? Want me to rub it?"

  "No....It's not too bad," she replied, snuggling deeper into his embrace.

  His hand moved in slow circles over her stomach. The baby moved in response to his touch. Lucas could sense the child, had been able to for months now. It was a boy. His son. He never thought much about being a father it still surprised him that he was so looking forward to it.

  *****

  Lucas sat straight up in the bed. It couldn't be! He had to be wrong.

  "K'Leena, wake up, I need to talk to you."

  "What?" she was still half asleep.

  "Wake up, this is important."

  Slowly she rose and forcibly shook off the haze. Kahless, it was three in the morning.

  "This better be good, Lucas, because if you woke me up to have sex...you're a dead man," she growled.

  "Why does your father hate covert operations?"

  "Huh?"

  "Why does he...."

  "I heard you," she snapped. "I just can't believe you woke me up to ask it."

  "Just tell me."

  "I never found out for sure, but I know it has something to do with Aunt Ani and my Dad's life before Voyager."

  "Before Voyager?"

  "Yeah, why, what's this all about?"

  "I'll let you know when I'm sure. I have to get to the Valiant, will you be all right for the rest of the night?"

  "I'll be just fine, there'll be no annoying husbands waking my ass up for question and answer time," she grumbled and laid back down.

  Lucas laughed softly and brushed a
kiss across her forehead before he left the bed.

  "I'll be back in a couple of hours."

  "Just don't wake me up, okay?"

  *****

  Lucas sat down at the desk of his ready room. The Valiant was still in spacedock. The damage done to her hull during the Breen incident had been extensive. It would be at least another month before repairs were completed. At this time of night the ship was deserted, which suited Lucas' purposes perfectly.

  "Computer, recognize authorization, Riker, Alpha Team, one."

  --Authorization recognized.--

  "List the names of all former Alpha Team members."

  --Unable to comply. That information is restricted, Command Authorization only.--

  "Authorize, command, one, omega, alpha, zero."

  --Accessing information.--

  Lucas scrolled down the list. There it was. Thomas Eugene Paris. He scrolled further down. William Thomas Riker. They hadn't served together by the looks of the stardates. Or had they?

  "Computer, what is the current status of Alpha Team members Thomas Paris and William Riker?"

  --Active.--

  Lucas sat for a long time thinking. It had to be something they worked on together. So it had to have been during their Enterprise days.

  "Computer, list all missions Tom Paris and Will Riker worked on together."

  There were more than a dozen entries. The first just three months after Tom and B'Elanna came aboard the Enterprise and the last just before his Dad made Admiral. It made perfect sense. What a cover. Two of Starfleet's highest profile officers. Federation heroes on more than one occasion. "To hide in plain sight."

  "We'll just take them one at a time," he said to the empty room as he called up the mission logs.

  "The Badlands."

  Lucas wasn't startled at Mike's voice. He'd felt him beam on board a few moments earlier.

  "What are you doing here?" he asked his first officer.

  "Same thing you are, obviously," he smirked. "You know, it's no fun sneaking up on a telepath."

  "Sorry," Lucas chuckled. "What about the Badlands?"

  "I over heard Admiral Paris and Captain Kim talking this morning before Tessa and I left the estate. Tom was warning Harry, Lucas. Told him to let Seven know because it was starting all over again. Harry was furious. Told Tom he should never have allowed them to enter the Badlands. He said that if Seven or Tessa were hurt he was going to hold Tom and Will responsible. What the hell is going on?"

  "If I knew that, Mike," Lucas began darkly. "We wouldn't be sitting in my Ready Room discussing the matter. But I'll tell you this, I don't think it's just K'Leena, Tessa and myself that are in danger. It's all of us. Something the six of them did years ago has come back to haunt them and -that- is what we are dealing with now."

  "What's the plan?"

  "First we figure out just who and what this is all about, then we'll decide on how to handle it."

  "Cross reference all known Enterprise missions that were in close proximity to the Badlands. I think it's a good place to start," Mike told him.

  "Agreed."

  Two hours later they had narrowed it down to a timespan of around three months after Tom and B'Elanna had come on board the Enterprise. The very first mission Will and Tom worked together as Alpha Team members. Not only were the Alpha files completely wiped, but the Enterprise's official logs during that time span were glaringly perfect. Not a single thing looked out of place--which in itself was a dead giveaway. Lucas and Mike served on starships together for the last six years, they knew as well as anybody official logs were never this neat.

  "Okay, we know when it happened, now we need to figure out what," Mike said.

  "I think the only way we're going to do that is for me to take a little trip," Lucas told him.

  "I should go."

  "No, it'll be noticed if you leave. I'm expected to be on my honeymoon for the next three months. My leave starts tomorrow. No one will think anything of my absence."

  "Are you taking K'Leena with you?" Mike asked.

  "Hell no!" Lucas exclaimed. "She's going to stay with you. That way I'll know she's safe and you can keep her out of sight until I get back."

  "Great, just what I wanted to do for next two months...baby-sit your hard-headed wife."

  "Don't forget bad-tempered," Lucas grinned evilly. "She's not going to like this one little bit."

  "You don't say."

  *****

  ...and torments....

  K'Leena jabbed at the locking mechanism again. She was running out of ideas. Who would have thought his code would be so hard to break?

  "Try your Grandmother's name," the voice from the dark startled her.

  "Grandpa! You scared me half to death!"

  "For a Special Ops Officer, you don't know much about stealth maneuvers," he teased her.

  "I didn't think anyone was home. Aren't you supposed to be in France?"

  "I came home early. Good thing, too. Looks like you could use a hand. Try Isobel." He motioned to the pad again.

  K'Leena typed in her Grandma's name and the door opened.

  "How did you know?" she asked.

  "Lucky guess."

  "Why are you helping me? Daddy's going to be mad."

  "I can handle your father. Besides, I just consider this payback. I'm sure you won't dump his beloved Flyer into Lake Tahoe, so do me a favor, bang the thing up a little before you bring it back."

  K'Leena laughed at the twinkle in her Grandpa's eye.

  *****

  "Who's there?" Lucas asked, his eyes scanning the darkened tree line. He anger flared when he opened his mind and realized who it was.

  "Captain Proton can't battle the forces of evil without Blaze," K'Leena replied, her voice full of mirth.

  "What the hell are you doing here?!" Did she -ever- listen?

  "Is that anyway to greet your wife?"

  "K'Leena," Lucas all but growled at her. "I don't want you here, it's not safe."

  "Nowhere is safe right now. Besides, you need me. You can't get a ship, I have one."

  "And you're grounded. Who the hell gave you a ship, anyway?"

  "My father," she said neutrally.

  Lucas looked into her eyes and took note of the little gleam there.

  "Hmmmmm....Grand Theft Shuttlecraft?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

  She shrugged, "Granddad tells me it's a genetic thing."

  "Fine, tell me where it is and I'll go. You can go back home," he told her in a no nonsense voice.

  "No way. I'm coming with you."

  "Not a chance. Think about the baby, K'Leena."

  "I am!" she said fiercely. "Do you really think we're safe here? They know exactly where I am. I'm being watched constantly. I can feel it, I know you can too. Besides, 'stronger together than apart', remember? We do this as a team, or not at all. Got it?"

  "No, K'Leena, that's final."

  "Lucas, if you leave me home, a week after our wedding when we are supposed to be on our honeymoon, it's going to look awfully strange. If we go together, it won't arouse any suspicion, it will be safer for -everybody-!"

  "That's why I'm leaving you with Mike! No one is supposed to know you're still on Earth!"

  "I won't hide out, Lucas," K'Leena told him defiantly. "Take me with or I tell everybody you went off somewhere without me and wouldn't tell me why."

  Lucas groaned in frustration. She was stubborn enough to do it too.

  "All right, you win," he sighed, knowing he was going to regret this, but she was right. She was probably safer with him than here alone.

  *****

  Admiral Tom Paris looked out his office window, deep in thought. It was very late, the building was empty and the streets below vacant, but he wasn't alone.

  "We should have seen this coming, Will," he said to his old friend.

  "I know...it's been so long. I had hoped...."

  "What?" Tom smirked, "that they forgot?"

  "Not forgot...forgiven, maybe," R
iker said quietly.