Mr Tuvix

Mr Tuvix pt 1
Leonie — 2 Oct 1998, 9:46 AM

Front Page of the Voyager Chronicle

VOYAGER CITY DOCTOR FOUND DEAD

The Town of Voyager City is in mourning as the news of the murder of Dr. Fitzgerald greeted the residences yesterday morning as they went about their daily routine. The body of Dr. Fizgerald was found in his home just outside of the city limits this morning by Miss Kaplan, who was the deceased's housekeeper. He was shot once through the head. After recovering from the shock of her discovery, Miss Kaplan rode into town and informed Marshal Tuvok and Deputy Neelix of the murder.

It is well known to the citizens of Voyager City that Dr. Fitzgerald was a gentle and kind doctor who enjoyed an occasional night out with the elder gentlemen of the town. He mostly kept to himself and when he wasn't treating the townspeople of their illness, he could be found doing odd jobs for the widows of Voyager City. It would seem that he would not have an enemy in the world.

But he did have one. Most citizens of Voyager City knew of his property dispute with Mr. Tuvix who had just brought the property next to his. Dr. Fitzgerald claimed that one-quarter Mr. Tuvix's property was on his and the deed that Mr. Tuvix had produced to prove his claim, was a fraud. He made repeated promises to have a lawyer investigate the deed properly.

A Voyager City resident, who requested to remain anonymous, said that she had overheard Mr. Tuvix threaten Dr. Fitzgerald if he didn't drop the property claim. This source said that Dr. Fitzgerald refused to be intimidated by Mr. Tuvix and retorted for more than one person to hear, that he would most certainly continue his fight.

When asked for a comment, Marshal Tuvok informed this reporter that the law would investigate all leads and that they had no definite suspects yet. However my source has informed me that knowing the Marshal, the logical place that the investigation would begin would be at Mr. Tuvix's Ranch.

Mr Tuvix pt 2
Leonie — 2 Oct 1998, 9:48 AM

Kathryn Janeway gave a sigh of thanksgiving as she came through the Ice-Box Cannon. She was nearing home. She and Mark had traveled to Defiant City to finish some business and she was returning home in order to ensure that things were going smoothly at the Ranch. She had just hired a new Foreman, Arterus, a month and a half ago and she didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone running the ranch for an extended period of time as of yet. They was only supposed to be away for a week, but their meetings had promised to take longer, so in the end she left Mark in Defiant city to complete their transactions.

She spotted a group of riders coming towards her quickly. She pulled on the reigns JTM stopped. Cowgirl Vickie was the first horse(wo)man that she recognized.

"Morning Miss Kathryn"

"Morning Cowgirl Vickie, What's going on?"

"Marshal and Deputy are missing. We are going to search for them."

"WHAT?"

"You've been away, so you don't know!!" Cowgirl Vickie just remembered what Miss Julie had told her. She continued quickly.

"Dr. Fitzgerald has been murdered. He was shot as his Ranch. The Marshal and Deputy Neelix went to talk to Mr. Tuvix, yesterday and Miss Jenny just sounded the alarm this morning, they haven't been back."

"Have you gone to Mr. Tuvix's Ranch"

Cowgirl Vickie nodded. "Just came from there and we found no one. It looks like Mr. Tuvix was reading to leave. His clothes are gone and the house is clean and shut up tight. Miss Megan said that he gave her three days off from her house cleaning for him, but she thought that he was planning to stay in town . You're welcome to join us on the search, I know that you're concerned seeing the Marshal is an old friend of yours."

"Thanks, but I think that I will go back to the cottage and see if I can find any clues as to what Mr. Tuvix was up to and perhaps that would lead us to where he would have taken Tuvok and Neelix.." Kathryn spurred JTM and was off.

Cowgirl Vickie watched her go for a second before turning around to face her team.

"Let's go boys."

That was Cowgirl Vickie, always leading the charge. The men followed, as they always did.

Mr Tuvix pt 3
Leonie — 2 Oct 1998, 9:50 AM

Cowgirl Vickie was correct. There was nothing in the Ranch to tell of Mr. Tuvix's whereabouts or his recent activities. Everything was neat and orderly. Not one piece of paper or book was out of place. When she went through his library and his desk she found nothing. Kathryn sighed. She needed to find something!!! She needed to do something. Tuvok was missing, something terrible must have happened to him and she had to find him and Neelix too. She had know Marshal since she was a little girl, they had grown up together. Deputy Neelix was new to Voyager City, but Kathryn had grown fond of him in the short time that he had been there. He had this ability of procuring things, and making useful things out of junk. She would not be able to live with herself if they were in trouble and she was not able to find them in time.

Kathryn walked outside of the Tuvix Ranch in order to get some air to clear her head. The wind had a slight chill and it did wonders for her muddled thoughts. She looked up at the sky at the sun for a bit and then closed her eyes. The light burned her eyelids and the image of white points against black were registering on her brain.

"Almost like stars" she mused. She lowered her head with her eyes still closed and then opened them suddenly. Her eyes focused on JTM who was tied to a staff on the fence in front of her. He neighed softly and moved about. Kathryn saw two different set of hoof prints made out of red dirt. When, JTM moved she recognized one as his, but the other was of some other mounts. Kathryn bent down and examined the earth. She rolled it around in her hand and then smelled it. A small smile came across her face. There was only one place where it could have come from.

The top of the Mounts of Venus.

Mr Tuvix pt 4
Leonie — 2 Oct 1998, 9:51 AM

Kathryn was glad that she had taken JTM as her horse to return to the Delta Q. He was a powerful mount and was able to get her there in record time. She acknowledged that she could have been engaging on a wild goose chase. A thousand horses must have come and gone to this site since the Murder and any one of them could have left that hoof print. Still it was all she had to go on. That and the woman's wisdom that this was the right lead to follow. She slowed as she got to the top of the hills. There was a cottage and smoke was coming out of its chimney.

'Odd,' she thought as she dismounted, 'I didn't know that there was a cottage up here.'

She walked around to one of the dirty windows and used her palm to wipe it clean so that she could see inside. What she saw, made her heart stop cold. Marshal Tuvok and Deputy Neelix were tied up on a bed. They were not moving.

Blinding pain overtook Kathryn and with her last moment of consciousness, she realized that someone had snuck up behind her and hit her over the head.

***

At first, it was a small point of light. It brought with it a tingling sensation in her head. Kathryn made herself open her eyelids to the light even though all she wanted to do was shut her eyes and ward it off. The pain grew as the light got brighter and brighter. She fought with all of her strength the regain consciousness.

"Kol, I don't like this..., why...... pec...."

"....... just a coward, ...... your brother......

"I just plum .......like it, you have the Marshal....

"Who is SHE?......."

"......for Damar, key......"

The words swam in her head. She had no idea how long she struggled, but finally her eyes opened and she spied two men, arguing heatedly in a corner next to Neelix and Tuvok. She couldn't help herself, she gave a low moan.

"Go, if you don't hear from me in three days, just disappear. It would mean that the deal has gone bad. Got it!!!" Mr. Tuvix said these words to the man next to him.

"Yes Pa" The second man was gone. Kathryn never saw him alive again.

"Well now, look who's awake. Are you thirsty? I have something for you. Tuvix yanked open her mouth and poured something form a bottle in. Kathryn tried to spit it out, but her head was in agony. She must have swallowed some of it because when the darkness came calling again, she let her eyes close.

Mr Tuvix pt 5
Leonie — 2 Oct 1998, 9:53 AM

When she awoke the next time it was with a start. Tuvok and Neelix were still out so she guessed that they must have been tricked into drinking a large quantity of the tonic, which Mr. Tuvix had tried to give her. There was one side effect that she was sure that Mr. Tuvix had not considered. Her head had stopped hurting her. Apparently the drug must have been some sort of strong pain killer. She was bound to the chair by her hands only, but the bonds were somewhat loose. Kathryn guessed that Mr. Tuvix thought that the drug would have kept her out long enough and just didn't take enough time to tie the bonds tighter in order to compensate for her small hands. Kathryn began to work on them.

She had finished one hand and had almost freed herself of the next when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs to the cottage and she saw Mr. Tuvix standing in the doorway.

"You're awake? But that's impossible. I thought you swallowed enough for........ You'll just have to take some more." He went to the desk and took the bottle.

"In a little while it wouldn't matter, this little cottage is going to be burnt to the ground and all of us would just conveniently disappear, only in this case I'll be the only one to re-appear." He approached her.

Kathryn saw her chance.

She knocked the bottle out of his hand with her free hand and it splashed on Tuvix's face. He jerked back in surprise and muttered "B!t@h". Kathryn worked frantically. She was trying to untie the last of her bonds while he was disoriented. She almost succeeded. Almost.

With a roar, Tuvix came at her and their weight toppled the chair. Kathryn felt no pain. She had a fleeting thought that if she survived this, that she would feel plenty of pain, later. She took her free hand and using her nails, scratched his face.

"Aieee" He screamed and then lashed out at Kathryn. She took the brunt of his fist on her face. She was disoriented for a second, but again she felt no pain. The force of his blow, combined with the weight of the two of them on the chair, broke it at the correct position. Kathryn shook her hands free. Extending her hand over her head and clasping her hands into steeples, she brought her arms down on his shoulder.
He screamed in pain and scampered off of her. Kathryn stood up hastily. She felt powerful, larger than life, and ready to make Mr. Tuvix pay for what he was doing.

He was gasping hard, but with an extra effort he lunged towards her. Kathryn side stepped him, turned and elbowed him in the back. Somehow he remained standing. He swung his arm at her and succeeded in knocking her three feet across the room. She merely shook it off and stood up again

'That's gonna leave a mark' she mused wryly.

With a scream of pure hatred, as he realized that this woman was putting up a better fight than he would have in her position, he came at her. Something in Kathryn snapped. She grabbed his outstretched arm and twisted it and brought her knees up to his groin.

He went down and this time, he stayed down.

Mr Tuvix pt 6
Leonie — 2 Oct 1998, 9:55 AM

She didn't understand why, and she never knew at that moment how one small loss of judgment could have brought such consequences afterwards. Later she would tell her self that she was drugged. That she wasn't thinking clearly. But some small part of her remembered the hate, the feeling of knowing exactly what she was going to do and not giving a damn. Kathryn calmly picked up the remainder of the chair that she had been tied to, and brought it down on his head. It smashed his face in, and with the loud crack that ensued, confirmed that it also broke his neck.

A period of long silence occurred as Kathryn watched the corpse of the man she had just murdered with detachment. A sudden movement caught her eyes. In the dark, she was able to make out a shadowed figure at the window. A moment later, she heard hoof beats leaving the cottage. It jarred her somewhat.

She moved slowly over to the bed and examined Neelix and Tuvok. They were both alive, but they needed medical attention. She stumbled outside of the cottage. Now that her fight was over, the adrenaline started to leave her body and so did the drug. Kathryn began to feel pain, a lot of pain and she knew that it would get worse. But she couldn't afford to collapse now, she needed to get help out here quickly. She barely was able to mount JTM and as he trotted off slowly, she prayed that she could at least stay conscious until she got to the Ranch, or that JTM would know where he was going.

***

Cowgirl Vickie saw them first. She and two other riders had returned from scouring part of the search area all day and had not seen anything. The area in which the Mounts of Venus was located was to be the first place where their team would look in the morning, when it got lighter. As she was about to cross the Neckrit Expanse to get to Circle V, she heard the sound of hoof beats and as it got nearer she heard a woman moan. Her other two companions stopped while she spurred Mesquite on towards the horse. When she saw who it was she called out,

"Jason, Big Jimbo over here". They came riding up, Jason on Nana-Probe and Big Jimbo in his buggy.

"Neel....Mar.....Mounds of Venus.....On top Mounds of Venus. Need help quickly." Kathryn managed to get out before she collapsed on JTM. Cowgirl Vickie caught her before she slid off her stallion.

Cowgirl Vickie understood the situation. "The two of you get up there and bring the Marshal and Neelix back into town, I'll meet you there with Mrs. Janeway.

Mr Tuvix pt 7
Leonie — 2 Oct 1998, 9:57 AM

"Kathryn, I want you to meet someone. This is Chakotay Torres. I've talked him into coming and working for us here at the Delta Q as our new foreman." Mark introduced the tall dark man with an elaborate mark on his forehead.

"It is a pleasure Mr. Torres. I've heard good things about you."

"Thank you Ma'am"

Kathryn was always a curious person and this was had always been her downfall.

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that mark."

"Before I was at Damar Key Ranch, My father, my younger brother and I used to live in Federation City. I took the mark there to honor B'Elanna's mother's tribe when I fell in love with her. It was the place where we meet"

Kathryn paled........'Damar Key....'The Marquis'..... It was the way that he said it that jarred Kathryn's memory.

Mark was looking at Mr. Torres so he missed his wife's reaction. "I didn't know that your father was still alive?"

"I don't know if he's still alive I haven't seen him in two years. He and Johnny left the city, looking for gold at the same time that I went to work for the Marquis Ranch. He and I didn't see eye to eye before I left."

It was then he turned to Kathryn and saw her face. "Miss Kathryn?" he questioned. Mark finally turned towards his wife.

'Kathryn are you all right?" he looked at her concerned.

Kathryn controlled her trembling lip. The time frame fit. And there were always rumors about gold being found on at the base of the Mountains of Venus. She didn't want to ask the next question, but she knew she had to know.

"What was your father's name?" It came out as a whisper.

"Kolopec Ma'am. Sometimes he was called Kol, or Pec for short. Have you heard of him."

Mr. Tuvix.

Not only had she heard of him. She had killed him.

"No, never have." She cast her eyes downwards and then swiftly turned to her husband, as if gathering her strength.

"If you would excuse me, I think I need to lie down now. It was nice to meet you Mr. Chakotay. I will see you bright and early in the morning." She touched Mark on his cheek as she left the front room.

On her way up the stairs, she stopped mid-way and clutched the banister. Her face fell as she slumped on the step. There was a look of horror on her face as she realized what she had done. Quickly she straightened up as she heard little Freddie Bristow come in to get the dishes of the dinning room table. She must not let anyone see her like this.

No-one else knew. And no one else would know.

She had completely forgotten about the face in the window.