Miral's Superhero
Voyager may be on Earth right now, but it's not home. Home is where your heart is.
It might have been ten years ago, but I still remember the first time my Daddy had taken me to work. I was small, just tall enough to push the buttons on the replicator, and I was a nuisance. I had replicated ten birthday cakes while my Mom's back was turned. She spun around and suppressed a laugh.
"Miral," She said my name as she bent down to my level. "What are these for?" She smiled and tucked some of my hair behind my ear.
"Berf dehs," I chuckled heartily, and clapped. Since there was no real school on Voyager, I had been spoiled for the first three years of my life. I had had more holodeck time than everybody on the ship put together, and Neelix taught me how to play Cariscat. Chakotay babysat me sometimes, and so did Icheb. But today was different. Everybody was doing something, so Mom had stayed in our quarters to look after me.
Just then, the doors to our quarters swished open, and in came Daddy. "Tom!" My mother called out happily.
"B'elanna!" My Dad responded. They hugged in front of me and then they kissed. Being the child that I was, I covered my eyes and screeched "Ewwww!"
I could hear my Dad laughing. "Silly Daddy forgot that Miral doesn't like kisses." He stooped down and kissed me on the forehead, to which I covered my eyes again and squealed. My mother laughed. My Dad picked me up in his arms and looked into my eyes. "Do you want to come with me to work today Miral?" At the age that I was, I still thought my Dad was a superhero, and that we were going to go fight villains and baddies. I nodded my head 'yes'. I was so excited. Happiness practically gushed out of my smile. My mom sighed and hugged me good-bye, and then she went over to the replicator, and the birthday cakes started to disappear. I remember thinking that I needed to figure out how she did that, because it was just so cool.
I latched onto my Dad's shoulder as we went out of our quarters, as if I had never been out before. I had of course, but today was different, because I was going to work. I was a big girl.
I thought about Naomi. She was probably the only other kid on Voyager that had parents, and her Mom was only a science officer, or so I had been told. Well, I thought proudly, my Daddy is the pilot! I smiled to myself and buried my face into my Dads neck.
We walked onto the turbolift next. "Where to?" My Dad asked, trying to be funny. I stuck a finger in the air and pointed up.
"Up?" I asked, grasping the meaning of the word. My Dad nodded and smiled and said something to the turbolift which I can't remember. The lights flashed in a complicated pattern and then the doors glided open, showing my little eyes the bridge for the first time.
I smiled and my eyes opened wide. I wanted to soak this up as much as I could. We walked out of the turbolift and around to the front, where my Daddy's station was. "This is Harry," My Dad told me, pointing to somebody in yellow as we walked around. "There's Chakotay, and Tuvok." He pointed them out individually. "And who's that?" He asked me like he didn't know. I could tell the answer he was looking for was 'the Captain' or 'Katie', or something. But I said "Coffee," and pointed to the captain. Harry laughed, and the captain looked to the mug in her hands. She pointed at it with a confused frown on her face and said "Coffee." And then pointed to herself. Again I told her that her name was coffee, and everybody on the bridge except Tuvok laughed. As a child, I never understood why Tuvok never laughed.
My Daddy took me over to his chair at the front of the room and we sat down. I sat on his lap, and he guided my hands over to the buttons. "Miral, tap this one," He would say. But I was scared. I knew that this was the spot that controlled the ship, and I had grown up being told not to touch anything important. As the day wore on though, I gained confidence in myself and started helping my Dad. When I did something perfectly, he would smile and clap, and then ask me if I could also do this, or that. After a few hours of pressing buttons, the Captain came over and asked me if I wanted to sit in her chair.
I looked up at my Daddy for advice. He looked down at me and shrugged his shoulders. I nodded my head yes, and then the Captain stooped down to my level and said, "On one condition." She held a finger up, still clutching her coffee with the remaining nine. I looked at her with wide eyes, asking her to come out with it silently.
"My name isn't coffee. Its Kathryn, understand?" She raised an eyebrow at me.
I quickly nodded and tried to pronounce it. "Kaff ren", but then just stuck to "Katee." The Captain smiled at me and waved a hand towards her chair, giving me permission to sit in it. I ran from my Dad's leg and waddled over towards the chair in the centre of the room. There was a step in the way, and being small, I had to tackle it with all four limbs. When I finally made it to the chair, I climbed up and sat in it, swinging my legs back and forth. I was so proud. I bet Naomi hadn't been in this chair. I smiled to myself.
"Katee?" I called, still swinging my legs, my hands firmly on the armrests, which were above my ears.
"Yes?" The Captain answered, coming to stand next to me with her coffee. It smelled like the kind that Chakotay had sometimes.
I pointed to myself then, and tried as hard as I could to pronounce "Captain?" She laughed and put her hand over her face, shaking her head.
"Yes, I suppose you can be Captain." She grinned and patted my head.
Later, when my Dad took me to our quarters, my Mom was there, making a bed. I climbed onto the bed and bounced up and down, telling her in my disjointed sentences about how I had pressed buttons, and that I took the ship 'for a spin', as my Dad would have put it. She laughed when I told her I was the new Captain. Words could not describe how happy I was.
I suppose now, that I look back on it, it was a great learning experience. I had learned about the social hierarchy, the controls of the ship, and about teamwork. But as a kid, in the protective veil of imagination and childhood, the whole experience meant just one thing:
My Daddy was still a superhero.