The Other Torres | A Star Trek Fanfiction *Book 1*

Non Sequitur-Chapter 51

[Sandrine's, Marseilles]

By the waterfront. An alien leaves as Amanda and Harry enter the familiar location and leans against the infamous pool table. Amanda looks sad seeing Tom, she knows that he's going to be different to the Tom in her reality.

"Hey. Watch it, will you? I'm trying to set up a shot here." Tom snapped

"Tom." Harry and Amanda.

"Who the hell are you two?" Tom asked rudely.

"You don't know us, do you?" Amanda asked, Harry heard the sadness in her tone.

"Sure. We were at the Academy together, right?" Tom asked.

"No." said Harry.

"Oh. Well, it must have been the Exeter. We served on the Exeter together?" Tom asked.

"Try Voyager." said Harry.

"Ah, Voyager. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I never set foot on that ship. And I can't say that I'm sorry, considering what happened to it." Tom said mirthlessly.

"You know about the mission to the Badlands?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yeah. Captain Janeway asked if I'd help her track down that Maquis ship in exchange for an early release from the penal colony." Tom said.

"But you said no?" Amanda asked.

"What? Are you kidding? I said yes! It sounded better than Starfleet Rehab. Anyway, I got as far as Deep Space Nine, where I got into a bar fight with a Ferengi, and I was thrown into the brig by a very unpleasant shapeshifter. Janeway tried to get me released but my parole was revoked by Starfleet Command. Voyager left without me." Tom said.

"That Ferengi, was he trying to sell you Lobi crystals?" Harry and Amanda asked.

"Yeah. How do you know about that?" Tom asked.

"Because we were there. In our reality, anyway. Tom, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I was on Voyager and so were you. You never got into a bar fight with that Ferengi. You stopped him from selling me Lobi crystals. And you did lead us into the Badlands." Amanda said.

"You're right. That does sound crazy." Tom said.

"Something's happened. Somehow, reality has been changed. A temporal anomaly, an alien influence, I can't explain how. All I know is that it's true. Mandy and I were in a shuttlecraft heading back to Voyager, and then we woke up here on Earth." Harry says.

"What is it you want?" Harry asked.

"Come with us to Starfleet Headquarters. Help me run a computer simulation of what happened on that shuttle. You're the best pilot I've ever seen, and if anyone can figure it out, it's you." said Amanda.

"You had me there for a minute. You really did. But then you blew it." Tom said laughing.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked confused.

"You're not getting me to set foot inside Starfleet Headquarters. So you tell whatever admiral or captain who sent you that I'm not interested in being another pawn in one of their games." Tom snapped.

"It's not a game!" Amanda snapped back.

"Oh, it isn't? Oh, that's a shame. I like games." Tom said sarcastically.

"You once told me that you used to treat life like one big game. Rules, players, winners, losers. You never took any of it seriously until you lost." Harry said.

"You know, you're both starting to annoy me. How strange, normally the only women able to annoy me are my sisters and mother." Tom states.

"Well guess what, I'm the exception." Amanda snarks.