for At Any Cost5/18 c20 Juddysbuddy
I don't know how I missed this story when you first posted it. I read everything about Tom Paris. However, this way I could just read the whole thing through in a few days instead of having to wait for updates.
I loved this story! It is so well written and everyone is very much in character. Even when Kathryn was out of her head and we could just "hear" part of the conversations going on around her, it was easy to tell exactly who was talking. I'm also glad that you didn't just have them rescued and then immediately be completely fine. Thank you for an excellent story!
I don't know how I missed this story when you first posted it. I read everything about Tom Paris. However, this way I could just read the whole thing through in a few days instead of having to wait for updates.
I loved this story! It is so well written and everyone is very much in character. Even when Kathryn was out of her head and we could just "hear" part of the conversations going on around her, it was easy to tell exactly who was talking. I'm also glad that you didn't just have them rescued and then immediately be completely fine. Thank you for an excellent story!
12/24/2012 c1 JamieRobs
I came on here to read something new, can't even remember what now, and somehow or other I ended up reading this amazing piece for, at least, the second time. Seems I haven't left a comment here, but perhaps somewhere else. In any case, couldn't leave without saying, that I am in awe, AGAIN,...there are no words!
I came on here to read something new, can't even remember what now, and somehow or other I ended up reading this amazing piece for, at least, the second time. Seems I haven't left a comment here, but perhaps somewhere else. In any case, couldn't leave without saying, that I am in awe, AGAIN,...there are no words!
6/30/2012 c20 
14demonchilde
...Holy Christ. This story was AMAZING. Just got done reading it, and it is one of the best I've seen on the site, period.
14demonchilde...Holy Christ. This story was AMAZING. Just got done reading it, and it is one of the best I've seen on the site, period.
1/15/2012 c20 Ninotchka39
Wow, what a spectacularly written story! One of the best I've read, and I was real reluctant in the beginning. I'm glad I decided to go for it. This wasn't just good fanfiction, this was good story! You stepped into the darkness, but never extinguished the light, and in the end you gave us truimph, even at such a cost. This is one of those stories that will stay with me. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Wow, what a spectacularly written story! One of the best I've read, and I was real reluctant in the beginning. I'm glad I decided to go for it. This wasn't just good fanfiction, this was good story! You stepped into the darkness, but never extinguished the light, and in the end you gave us truimph, even at such a cost. This is one of those stories that will stay with me. Thank you for sharing it with us.
1/6/2012 c20 28KJaneway115
Ok. Wow. I just got through this story, which really didn't take me very long because I couldn't put it down, and all I can say is WOW. This is one of the most poignant, moving, true to life Voyager stories I have ever read. It actually made me cry a couple of times, and that is something that NEVER happens.
Your writing of Janeway, Chakotay and Paris was flawless. There was not one moment or one line that I did not believe could have been authentic to those characters. Janeway and Paris' thoughts throughout their captivity were so believable. I felt conflicted with them as they each tried to hold on to what they believed was right, but not put the other one in any more danger. By the end, I actually found myself, along with Janeway, wondering if she should capitulate, even though that's not something I ever would have thought I'd condone.
Gwiln is a piece of work. What a great villain. Pure evil. But, the brilliant thing about your writing is that I actually understood Gwiln in a strange sort of way. I didn't agree with him, but I could understand his point of view, and see why he wanted what he wanted. He was a real person, not some cookie-cutter villain.
The way that you built the tension in the story was incredible. That's why I couldn't put it down. At a certain point I started thinking, this can't get any worse... and then later I started thinking, it's only going to get worse. I stood frozen on the stairwell of the subway reading the last parts of the imprisonment sequence until it became clear they were finally back aboard Voyager, and then I could tear myself away long enough to go to the grocery store.
Even their rescue was dealt with in a realistic and elegant way. It wasn't just back to normal. Things weren't instantly solved. And I think you did a wonderful job working with their recoveries both individually and in their own relationship with each other. I absolutely love the conversations between Chakotay and Kathryn after her rescue. They reveal the true depth of understanding and feeling that they have for each other. You create a beautiful relationship between them. They both know it's not flawless, but you also show that what they share transcends those flaws.
My favorite line in the story is this: "For everything beautiful there is some price to be paid for it. Just as for every unjust suffering, some good must spring form it. Even if it's only in the ability to empathize with others who have suffered or the ability to learn from our collective mistakes." You've offered some real words of wisdom there.
Congratulations on a powerful and moving work of art.
28KJaneway115Ok. Wow. I just got through this story, which really didn't take me very long because I couldn't put it down, and all I can say is WOW. This is one of the most poignant, moving, true to life Voyager stories I have ever read. It actually made me cry a couple of times, and that is something that NEVER happens.
Your writing of Janeway, Chakotay and Paris was flawless. There was not one moment or one line that I did not believe could have been authentic to those characters. Janeway and Paris' thoughts throughout their captivity were so believable. I felt conflicted with them as they each tried to hold on to what they believed was right, but not put the other one in any more danger. By the end, I actually found myself, along with Janeway, wondering if she should capitulate, even though that's not something I ever would have thought I'd condone.
Gwiln is a piece of work. What a great villain. Pure evil. But, the brilliant thing about your writing is that I actually understood Gwiln in a strange sort of way. I didn't agree with him, but I could understand his point of view, and see why he wanted what he wanted. He was a real person, not some cookie-cutter villain.
The way that you built the tension in the story was incredible. That's why I couldn't put it down. At a certain point I started thinking, this can't get any worse... and then later I started thinking, it's only going to get worse. I stood frozen on the stairwell of the subway reading the last parts of the imprisonment sequence until it became clear they were finally back aboard Voyager, and then I could tear myself away long enough to go to the grocery store.
Even their rescue was dealt with in a realistic and elegant way. It wasn't just back to normal. Things weren't instantly solved. And I think you did a wonderful job working with their recoveries both individually and in their own relationship with each other. I absolutely love the conversations between Chakotay and Kathryn after her rescue. They reveal the true depth of understanding and feeling that they have for each other. You create a beautiful relationship between them. They both know it's not flawless, but you also show that what they share transcends those flaws.
My favorite line in the story is this: "For everything beautiful there is some price to be paid for it. Just as for every unjust suffering, some good must spring form it. Even if it's only in the ability to empathize with others who have suffered or the ability to learn from our collective mistakes." You've offered some real words of wisdom there.
Congratulations on a powerful and moving work of art.
12/6/2011 c1 1JaspersSweetie
Very interesting start to the story, I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it.
1JaspersSweetieVery interesting start to the story, I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it.
11/14/2011 c20 31mabb5
Let me add to the accolades over this story. Brilliantly done. Yes, it is brutal. But it is one of the best of its kind that I've ever read in any fandom. At first I thought it was going to be a Hurt/Comfort story. And it is in though its very subtle but beautifully done writing. But that is not its primary focus. The characterizations are the primary reason for the story. And they are superbly realized. Once I started reading it I could not stop. And that is the highest praise I can give to any story teller. When the writing is so good that I rearrange my life in order to read it, then that is a good story!. Again, well done.
31mabb5Let me add to the accolades over this story. Brilliantly done. Yes, it is brutal. But it is one of the best of its kind that I've ever read in any fandom. At first I thought it was going to be a Hurt/Comfort story. And it is in though its very subtle but beautifully done writing. But that is not its primary focus. The characterizations are the primary reason for the story. And they are superbly realized. Once I started reading it I could not stop. And that is the highest praise I can give to any story teller. When the writing is so good that I rearrange my life in order to read it, then that is a good story!. Again, well done.
7/25/2011 c20 8HollyFire
This was an incredible and intense story. Although it was difficult at times to read, because of how graphic the torture scenes were, I found it to be spellbinding. I liked how you went back and forth between Kathryn's and Tom's point of view. Excellent job! :)
8HollyFireThis was an incredible and intense story. Although it was difficult at times to read, because of how graphic the torture scenes were, I found it to be spellbinding. I liked how you went back and forth between Kathryn's and Tom's point of view. Excellent job! :)
4/24/2011 c20 12EstellaDoreaBlack
I really wanted that answer! Please tell me there's a way to find it out!
12EstellaDoreaBlackI really wanted that answer! Please tell me there's a way to find it out!
4/24/2011 c17 EstellaDoreaBlack
I'm really confused with Janeway's little thought thing. But I assume that's the point!
I'm really confused with Janeway's little thought thing. But I assume that's the point!
4/24/2011 c16 EstellaDoreaBlack
You should have seen my face when I read that second-to-last line. It was somewhere between bursting into tears, laughing with shock (not that it's funny AT ALL, just a reaction to something so out-of-the-blue) and shrieking with surprise.
You should have seen my face when I read that second-to-last line. It was somewhere between bursting into tears, laughing with shock (not that it's funny AT ALL, just a reaction to something so out-of-the-blue) and shrieking with surprise.
4/24/2011 c15 EstellaDoreaBlack
Sorry to hear you were having trouble with reviewers. I'm very, very mad at you - because this story's so riveting I can't tear myself away from it to go to bed!
Sorry to hear you were having trouble with reviewers. I'm very, very mad at you - because this story's so riveting I can't tear myself away from it to go to bed!
1/6/2011 c20 52Claire O'Mack
Amazing story it had me gripped the whole way through. Loved all the drama the interplay between kathryn and paris also the twisted relationship with their captors. I cant put in to words how wonderful this story was bravo.
52Claire O'MackAmazing story it had me gripped the whole way through. Loved all the drama the interplay between kathryn and paris also the twisted relationship with their captors. I cant put in to words how wonderful this story was bravo.
11/28/2010 c20 91Marcus S. Lazarus
Dramatic start lead into an effective story; congratulations.
Tom Paris has been one of my favourite characters in “Voyager” for a while- the ‘redeemed criminal’ thing has a certain appeal, even if his crimes weren’t THAT serious in the grand scheme-, and your use of the unusual ‘team’ of him and Janeway worked out well.
Tom might be out of his usual ‘comfort zone’ when he’s called upon to treat the captain’s injuries, but he nevertheless fulfilled his ‘secondary’ role on the ship very well, with his refusal to take an offer that would have allowed him to escape perfectly demonstrating his loyalty to the woman who gave him the second chance he would never have possessed in the Alpha Quadrant.
Add in the utterly abhorrent nature of the current villain- all this effort to frame them simply because Janeway told Kaelo ‘No’; that man’s ego was ridiculous-, and you made the situation just that bit tenser; if he’d been labouring under a clear misunderstanding they could have done something about it, but as it was Kaelo just had a convenient excuse to capture them and he took it.
The references to Janeway’s previous torture experiences added a certain extra edge to the storyline as we’re shown how far Janeway’s been pushed in the past and leave us wondering how much of the current treatment she can take when she’s the ‘superior’ officer in the current situation (And hence the main focus of the torture that she’s being subjected to), to say nothing of the questions it raised for Tom about his own father and the subsequent resolution as he realised that there are some things he almost SHOULDN’T know.
It might be a predominately brutal storyline, but it’s nevertheless a VERY effective bit of work; the conclusion in particular gave us a brief but effective look at the ‘reconstruction’ that both Janeway and Tom had to go through in the aftermath of that particular experience...
(Nice touch with explaining how Seven managed to figure out how to find the two of them, as a minor addition; in a way, it’s kind of touching that she’d use that thing again after what happened last time just for their sake, even if a part of me wishes we'd seen her being thanked for her efforts)
91Marcus S. LazarusDramatic start lead into an effective story; congratulations.
Tom Paris has been one of my favourite characters in “Voyager” for a while- the ‘redeemed criminal’ thing has a certain appeal, even if his crimes weren’t THAT serious in the grand scheme-, and your use of the unusual ‘team’ of him and Janeway worked out well.
Tom might be out of his usual ‘comfort zone’ when he’s called upon to treat the captain’s injuries, but he nevertheless fulfilled his ‘secondary’ role on the ship very well, with his refusal to take an offer that would have allowed him to escape perfectly demonstrating his loyalty to the woman who gave him the second chance he would never have possessed in the Alpha Quadrant.
Add in the utterly abhorrent nature of the current villain- all this effort to frame them simply because Janeway told Kaelo ‘No’; that man’s ego was ridiculous-, and you made the situation just that bit tenser; if he’d been labouring under a clear misunderstanding they could have done something about it, but as it was Kaelo just had a convenient excuse to capture them and he took it.
The references to Janeway’s previous torture experiences added a certain extra edge to the storyline as we’re shown how far Janeway’s been pushed in the past and leave us wondering how much of the current treatment she can take when she’s the ‘superior’ officer in the current situation (And hence the main focus of the torture that she’s being subjected to), to say nothing of the questions it raised for Tom about his own father and the subsequent resolution as he realised that there are some things he almost SHOULDN’T know.
It might be a predominately brutal storyline, but it’s nevertheless a VERY effective bit of work; the conclusion in particular gave us a brief but effective look at the ‘reconstruction’ that both Janeway and Tom had to go through in the aftermath of that particular experience...
(Nice touch with explaining how Seven managed to figure out how to find the two of them, as a minor addition; in a way, it’s kind of touching that she’d use that thing again after what happened last time just for their sake, even if a part of me wishes we'd seen her being thanked for her efforts)
7/25/2010 c20 JackieJacks
You were so right, it was well worth reading the ending. Such a phenomenally well-written piece. Broke my heart a dozen times over ;).
You were so right, it was well worth reading the ending. Such a phenomenally well-written piece. Broke my heart a dozen times over ;).