Disclaimers etc. see Part 1.
9. Paper
Chakotay had thought that, after the first time, the Cardassians would stop looking for Paris. But they didn't. They came back again and again, always without warning. Chakotay stood impassively as they rampaged through the village, into houses, invading people's privacy, scattering livestock and trampling gardens and crops alike. He forced his face to remain in neutral lines as they stuck a blade into the hay bales that concealed the shuttle, even as he hoped the metal wouldn't touch the hull. Paris was concealed in the cellar beneath the bales again, but it was getting harder and harder to get him down there in time. Last time, the Cardassians had landed their craft over the hill and approached the village silently on foot. It was only the fact that he and Paris had been in the barn, working on a harvester that had allowed Paris to hide in time.
"Why do you keep coming back?" he asked the Gul. "He's not here. He's never been here since he stopped coming for the grain."
The Gul stepped up close and thrust his scaled face into Chakotay's. "You lie," he hissed. "We have information, and we will keep coming back until we find him." And he'd left, the promise to return lying implacably between them.
No one in the village had said anything, but Chakotay knew they were getting tired of having their houses and gardens torn apart, tired of lying and wondering if someone else would inadvertently let anything slip.
Paris knew it too. As he and Chakotay lay together in bed, Paris broached the subject.
"I should leave. It's not fair to everyone here."
Chakotay swallowed. He knew Paris was right, but he couldn't bring himself to tell his lover to go. His breath hitched in his chest. "You can stay here as long as you want," he said instead. "It's not safe for you to leave."
"It's not exactly safe for me here," argued Paris. "What if the Cardies come in the middle of the night? I'd never get to the cellar. And it's becoming less safe for everyone else too. How long before someone gets hurt or killed?"
Chakotay pulled the younger man over so that Paris' head rested on Chakotay's chest. His hand stroked the soft skin of his neck, running a thumb over his lip.
"I don't want you to go."
He could feel Paris' smile against his finger. "I never thought I'd hear you say that, Chak. You mean you'll miss me?"
Chakotay was silent. But he owed Paris the truth. "Yeah. I'll miss you. I wish.... I wish I could come with you. I want to stay with you."
Paris raised his head and in the half-light, his smile was tender. "It's okay, Chak. You can say the L word. I love you."
Love. When had that come about? When had the lust and rage given way to caring and love? But somehow, over the past weeks since the anniversary of Ina's death, there'd been a shift in perspective. Chakotay had seen past the veils of rage and sadness and seen Paris for what he really was: a considerate, caring person with a backbone of good. Paris gave freely of himself. Even now, he'd given Chakotay the gift of words he obviously didn't expect to be reciprocated.
Chakotay stared down at his lover, at the slender, strong body lying in his rumpled sheets, at the mussed blond hair and sun-browned limbs. Closing his eyes, Ina's ghost danced behind his eyelids. She was smiling. Maybe Ina had loved this man too, or maybe she had just admired his strength, his spirit. Either way, when it came down to it, she had been piloting the second shuttle; there was almost certainly some evasive action she could have taken. Paris was not blameless, not at all, but he had tried to make amends. If Ina bore no grudge--and her smiling spirit and the cobweb brush of her mind gave the truth of that--then Chakotay could accept that too.
So it came down to this. A choice between family and colony, and the man he loved. Responsibility versus love. The love of his family or the love of his soul mate. Chakotay scrunched his eyes tighter briefly, and when he opened them, Paris filled his gaze. His wryly twisted smile told Chakotay what he was expecting to hear.
"It's okay, Chak. Don't force out words you don't mean. You're with me now, that's enough. I-"
Chakotay stopped his tumbling words with a kiss. "We're leaving. Together. We'll take one of the colony's shuttles - too dangerous to take yours. We'll fly it to the edge of the western sea, set down there, make it look as if you landed far from the colony and wandered off and got lost. We'll find somewhere for you to go."
Blue eyes stared back at him. "Too risky, Chak. I'll go alone."
"No. I'm coming with you. Once we've found somewhere for you to settle, I'll have to return here, but I'll come and visit whenever I can. I... I love you too."
The words hung in the space between them, a part of their breath, a part of their souls.
Paris blinked and was the first to break their gaze. "I didn't expect to hear that."
"What, that I love you or that I'm coming too?"
"The first. Or the second, actually, but mainly I never expected to hear you say you loved me."
"I do. But I also have responsibilities. I can't just abandon Trebus. Not yet."
"I know. I'm happy you're coming at all."
Chakotay rolled onto his side and traced Paris' biceps with his fingers, delighting in how the strong muscle shivered underneath his touch. "We'll make it look like the shuttle is going on a trading mission to Erubis. Once we're past the asteroid belt the far side of Erubis, it will be harder for them to detect us. With luck, the Cardassians will think we set down on the far side of the planet--the second largest city is there, so it's not unusual--and hopefully they won't look past there. Do you have any star charts for that sector?"
"Yes, the Cardassian shuttle is equipped with them. We can download them before we leave."
"We're on the borders of Cardassian space here; if we can get out of their occupied territories, we should be able to find a civilization that will accept you."
Paris' eyes were bleak. "I'll miss this place. I felt like I belonged here." He turned his head and looked Chakotay in the eyes. "I'll miss you."
"You'll be missed. Ralka had you lined up to dig her garden again. I'll miss you, not for your muscles, although I love them too, but I'll miss you for being you." He drew a deep breath. "We better go early tomorrow. You take the Cardassian's shuttle out to the western sea. I'll pick you up from there and we'll leave."
"No time for good-byes then?"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be; it's not your fault. You're putting your life on the line for me as it is. And risking the colony."
Early next morning, as the dawn was gilding the village with golden light, the two men lifted off in the shuttles. Paris had a few possessions that he'd acquired during his time on Trebus, but he was basically unencumbered. In keeping with the fiction that they were going to trade on Erubis, Chakotay had only a couple of changes of clothing. Hidden in a waist pouch were all the coin and credits he could lay his hands on. The rear of his shuttle held surplus grain, some machinery and irrigation parts.
Paris put down the Cardassian shuttle in such a way that its nose was buried in the soft sand dunes. To all but the closest observer, it would look as if it were a botched landing. The two men scuffed up the sand around the shuttle and flattened some vegetation, but as Chakotay said, the wind would obscure most of their work and disguise the lack of footprints leading away from the shuttle.
They took off again into a blue, blue sky. The downloaded Cardassian star charts allowed them to plot an easy and obvious course to Erubis. While sensors registered the presence of Cardassian craft, they went unchallenged and entered orbit without problem. Chakotay set a stationary orbit above the planet's surface, which was semi-shrouded in twilight.
"Now we wait," he said.
"Wait?" Paris lounged with his feet up, watching the lights of low air traffic zip over the planet beneath them.
"Give it a few hours, so that if anyone's watching us it appears as if we're waiting for daylight to land. By then too, our orbit will be closest to the asteroid belt."
"So what shall we do to pass the time?" Paris held up a well-worn deck of cards. "Poker? Or..." He winked laviciously and let his eyes drop to scan Chakotay's groin.
Chakotay felt himself swell under his lover's heated gaze. "I'm not much good at bluffing."
Paris moved sinuously to his feet, coming around behind Chakotay. His hot breath grazed his ear as he bent to whisper "That's good. Because the second option sounds better to me as well."
Their coupling was fierce and hot, with Paris pressed up against a bulkhead, reaching around behind him to urge his lover on. When Chakotay had come, in desperate, jagged spurts, he pulled out and turned Paris around so that they could kiss. The white lust of impending separation softened to a more gentle caress.
Chakotay reached down between them to palm Paris' erection. "How would you like this?" he breathed into the younger man's mouth. "Inside me? Or..."
Without waiting for an answer, he slid down Paris' body to take him in his mouth, delighting in how Paris' cock hardened even more, how satiny smooth and delicious it was. As Paris groaned his climax, Chakotay swallowed his offering, even as he wondered how many more times he'd be able to do this. Visiting Paris was a dream, but not a practical one.
Rising to his feet, they embraced, heads resting on each other's shoulders.
"Two hours until it's dark enough to leave," sighed Paris. His hand slithered down to Chakotay's groin. "How good is your recovery time, old man?"
Their trajectory to the asteroid belt was uneventful. Chakotay watched as Paris skillfully maneuvered their shuttle through the field. Small rocks and space debris bounced off the hull. It sounded like the rain that seldom fell on Trebus. Paris was heading for the far side, and a belt of colonized planets that he knew to be friendly, yet not enamored of the Cardassians.
Chakotay watched the sensors, straining to detect any possible pursuit. Sensor ghosts and space dust made the task hard, and after a couple of hours he was fairly confident they had not been followed. Before leaving his station, he took a final sweep focusing on the blind spot at the rear starboard of their craft. He looked, recalibrated, and looked again. This time there was no mistake.
"We've got company," he said quietly. "Starboard side, matching our course."
"Cardassian?"
"Yes. Can we shake them?"
"We can try." Paris' fingers danced on the controls, pushing the shuttle to the limits of her impulse drive. He dived over a chunk of rock, snapping her around in a spin to change direction.
Chakotay checked the sensors. The Cardassian ship was still there, but now it had given up all pretence that it happened to be ambling along in their blind spot on the same course, and was obviously in pursuit. With a dry mouth, he waited, heart pounding, as Paris flipped the shuttle in a series of lightning quick maneuvers. But they were outclassed. The shuttle was designed for interplanetary hops, nothing more. It certainly wasn't meant to outrun a Cardassian warship.
For long minutes, they played their dangerous game of dart and run. Sweat ran in rivulets down Paris' face, and he swiped it away with an impatient movement, hardly lifting his hand from the conn. Chakotay scanned the sensor array, desperately looking for an out, something that would give then an edge.
"There! To starboard. A nebula cloud shielded by a band of debris. Can you get-"
He lurched at his station as inertial dampers failed to keep pace with Paris' piloting. The tiny shuttle swung hard, then accelerated, diving fast for the debris. Sensors showed the warship was still on their tail.
And then Paris swore, "What the fuck is that?"
Abruptly, ahead of them, the sleek and shining lines of a modern craft was directly in their way. Paris leaned on the conn and the shuttle rose, its nose barely grazing the other ship's hull. Through the viewscreen, Chakotay caught a glimpse of numbers on the hull.
"It's Federation!"
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