Alternate Punishments, Alternate Rewards
Disclaimer: All the charaters and locations in this
story belong to Paramount. What we choose to do with those charaters
"Hey you! Get up!" An angry figure emerged from the darkness, its huge bulking form blocking out most of the light seeping in through the single door to the room. It closed the door tightly, leaving only a crack of light to see by. Turning, the figure walked up to a sleeping man who was crumpled on the floor of the room, and punctuated the command with a sharp kick to the side.
Tom Paris woke up with a start, his mind already racing. Where was he? New Zealand? Back in the Chute? In the Vidiian caves? It wasn't any of those places but he knew it was somewhere slightly familiar. He could recognize the faint smells and sounds of the place, but he couldn't recall when he had been there before. He struggled to remember anything else about where he was or how he got to this place, through the haze of pain that was clouding his brain. Without warning the boot connected with his side again, sending Tom sprawling on the floor with a startled cry.
Backing up, he leaned up against the wall of the room, forcing himself to try and breathe through the pain. Opening his eyes, he found himself staring right at B`Elanna Torres, dressed in full Klingon gear. Leaning his head back up against the wall, he realized that his day was about to get much worse.
"Will you get up before I have to beat you to a pulp?" B`Elanna hauled him up to his feet roughly by the collar of his uniform, choking off any reply Tom would have attempted to make. She roughly shackled his hands together, then finally released the deathgrip on his neck.
"B`Elanna?" Tom asked, confusion still apparent in his features. He was hoping for answers from the familiar face, not sure exactly what was going on yet. Instead, B`Elanna only growled in response and smacked him hard across the face.
"Your pretty boy attitude might have worked for the Intendant, but it definately won't work for me." B`Elanna pulled him in close until he was only inches from her snarling face. "I'd be just as happy to remove you from your pretty face...permanently. Do we understand?"
Tom nodded slowly, still trying to process what the hell was going on...B`Elanna was threatening him? Before he even realized what was happening, B`Elanna's hand came up again and he was sent sprawling, his nose and upper lip bleeding from where she hit him.
"What did you say, slave?" She asked as she moved to stand directly in front of him.
"Nothing." He stammered. He was unable to do anything to stop the bleeding with his arms chained behind his back and felt its warm, stickiness stream down his face, dripping on his uniform.
"That's what I thought." She snarled at him again. "Now, do you understand slave?"
"Yes." He choked out, not sure entirely if he was more scared or angry at that moment in time.
"Yes what?" B`Elanna kicked Tom again hard.
"Yes Ma`am." Tom practically spat the sentence out in B`Elanna's face, causing her to laugh heartily.
"Ma`am works for me, but I doubt the Intendant will appreciate it." She pulled Tom back up to his feet again and began to lead him out the door. Instead of cooperating, Tom stayed rooted to the spot, refusing to move anywhere. B`Elanna grabbed his hair hard, pulling his head as far back as it could go and exposing his neck. Using her other hand she presed a small knife to the exposed flesh and smiled when Tom squirmed slightly, his eyes full of fright. "You know, I would suggest you adjust your attitude as well. Here, you are a nobody, no one gives a fuck about you. If you ended up slashed into a million pieces right this instant, I can guarantee you that no one would shed any tears. Hell, the only reason I haven't killed you already is because the Intendant has taken a liking to you for some odd reason."
"Who or what the hell are you talking about?" Tom asked as B`Elanna shoved him roughly out the door. Turning back to look at her, he caught the brief predatory flash in her eyes before she prodded him again, leading him down the dark winding hall.
"You'll see." B`Elanna replied mysteriously. "Once we get you changed and cleaned up, I'm sure the Intendant will want to meet you personally."
Further down the hall, the Intendant, or Kira Nerys, lounged in her bed as one of her Bajoran slaves gently began to massage the tension from her neck. The past few months had been so stressful for her. She had just barely managed to escape both the Rebels and the enormous Empire fleet Worf and Garek had sent out to find her. Then, finding refuge on Bajor, she had spent weeks trying to contact her old friends, calling in favours just so she could find a way off that hell-hole of a planet.
But, there was a good side of all that time she was forced to spend alone in hiding. She had managed to plot many ways of taking back Terrok Nor, in order to redeem herself in the eyes of Worf and to regain her post in the Empire.
And now finally, everything seemed to be coming together for her again. She had met up with another old aquantance of Worf's - B`Elanna Torres - and aquired a crew through the willing Klingon's contacts. Prowling space in a stolen Bird of Prey, they managed to intercept a young rebel a few days ago, a hotshot pilot named Tom Paris. Kira had learned such interesting information from the young man, he had been around on Terrok Nor when the rebels managed to tap into the mirror universe for help. And he had been all to anxious to help after going through a couple of interrogation rounds with B`Elanna. But of course, leaving the interrogation up to her Klingon partner, almost ensured that the man would die in the end, leaving Kira with an unusual predicament.
Pullling the mirror Tom Paris, not only from his universe, but halfway across the galaxy as well, took a great deal of effort but B`Elanna's excellent engineering skills managed to accomplish the task. And now that he was here, Kira was almost positive that it was going to be worth it all. The mirror Tom Paris alone would be able to retake Terrok Nor for her, something a whole fleet of Empire ships couldn't do earlier.
But, even as she worked towards pulling him to the Mirror Universe, Kira knew that Tom Paris wasn't going to just help her, she was almost counting on that fact to be true. For Tom Paris was devistatingly gorgeous and Kira couldn't wait to start *convincing* him of his proper duties to her.