Parallel Lines

Fanfiction
Title:	Parallel Lines
Author(s):	Ruth Devero
Date(s):
Length:	140 kb / 45,265 words
Genre(s):	slash fanfiction
Fandom(s):	Star Trek Voyager
Relationship(s):	Chakotay/Paris
External Links:	Parallel Lines (Adventures in the Slash Dimension) Parallel Lines (AO3)
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Parallel Lines is a Chakotay/Paris story by Ruth Devero.

Summary: Sometimes what makes the difference is a word. (140 kb)

Author's notes:

"Parallel Lines": My, but this one was a long time finishing! The movie "Closing Doors" was a C/P-writer's dream, with the pivotal moment being Tom Paris making/not making the judgment error that affects the rest of his life. (My referring to Tom Paris by his first name in one story & his last name in the other is a nod to the two hair styles used to separate the two storylines in the movie.) The few stories I've read which attempt alternative versions of Paris's life after Caldik Prime seem to have assumed that he'd get over the accident & be okay; I wanted to take into account the fact that this natural-born pilot was at the helm for the deaths of three people. Actually, my alternate Paris turned out more emotionally scarred than the one we saw on the screen -- possibly because he has no one else to blame for every mess he finds himself in. The Q ex machina device was irresistible -- & in keeping with the theme of the arbitrariness of the universe. Seska makes her move earlier in the alternate line than she did in the show: I figured that Chakotay's interest in Paris -- & the recognition that Chakotay thus was allying himself even more closely with the Federation & would no longer listen to her -- would have led her to make contact with the Kazon earlier than she does on the show. Wow, what fun to do the romance in the alternate story, blissfully free of that history of betrayal & mistrust! Some of the incidents in the non-alternate story are from bits & pieces on my hard drive: the kidnapped-crew incident was originally an adventure for the first-season Doctor; the Ekaishaan may show up later as another people, since I didn't use a third of the stuff I had for them. Poor Samtha! As I explain below, she's me: I needed a victim & didn't want to kill off anybody actually in the show. My apologies to anybody who doesn't like tables: it was the best way I could find to get everything lined up right. (&, since I wrote each story separately, I was really surprised to see how much there was that lined up! For example, there are two neck rubs nearly opposite each other that were a complete surprise!)

Reactions and Reviews

Caldik Prime was inarguably a turning point in Tom’s life. “Parallel Lines” follows two possible outcomes from it: in one side, Tom lies about what happened and ends up joining the Maquis and is later sent to jail; on the other, Tom admits he is guilty and is not cashiered from Starfleet. The fic is told, as the title might suggest, into parallel columns tied together by some interconnected paragraphs and key events (Tom being aboard Voyager, getting stranded on the Delta Quadrant and saving Chakotay on the Ocampan homeworld among them). While I’m really not a fan of this type of formatting, the interesting parallels that are presented and the beautiful writing style sold it to me completely. In the end, the format becomes an asset to the story, tying two great narratives in their own right and transforming them into an amazing fic.