A Long Voyage Home
An AU Star Trek: Voyager Story
By MysticPhantasy
Chapter 1: Meet Miley Fitzpatrick
(Disclaimer: We do not own Star Trek: Voyager or its characters except for our OC Miley.)
The crew of the Voyager had been trapped in the Delta Quadrant for the past month and the crew was still getting adjusted. Tom Paris set up a holodeck program that was a replica of a pool hall he frequented in Paris, France ironically. It was late at night when he and his best friend, Harry Kim walked out of the program after Harry lost 5 games in a row.
"Come on, Harry, you should've played one more round," Tom smirked.
"I know when I'm being swindled, Tom, I've had enough for one night. I'm just glad we weren't playing for rations or something."
"Well I'll make it up to you; I'll buy you a snack at the mess hall."
"Nice try, but you know Neelix doesn't charge," Harry replied.
"Well, I'll give you a handicap next time."
"I don't want any pity. I promise I'll win against you someday on my own skills."
"Well I'm still hungry, let's go get some food," Tom said leading his friend to the mess hall. When they walked in they saw that the room was mostly empty. There were only a few crewmembers, getting late dinners, and a few from the night shift getting an early breakfast. Neelix greeted them with a smile.
"Good evening gentlemen, I'm serving both breakfast and dinner right now, so take your pick."
"I'll have some scrambled eggs and sausage," Harry smiled.
"I'll take whatever everyone had for dinner tonight," Tom requested.
"Ok you're getting meat loaf and leeota root gravy then." Neelix turned to go back into the kitchen.
"Aww man," Tom whined.
"That's what you get. I know what's safe," Harry grinned. They went to look for a seat and noticed an officer sitting by herself. She looked humanoid but not of any species Harry had ever seen. She had long pointed ears with fur behind them, plus what looked like two small horns lining the center of her forehead. She had short black hair and it was straight. Her eyes were golden with brown pupils. She was deeply engrossed in whatever she was typing on her PADD. Her uniform suggested she was part of the engineering division.
"Hey Harry, do you know who she is?" Tom asked. Harry was captivated for a second, "Hello Tom to Harry, you there buddy?"
"Huh…oh no I don't know her," Harry replied. He walked over to her, "Excuse me, may we join you?"
The young officer looked up and blushed, "Um I'm sorry I have to go on my shift now," she got up and ran out the door as Neelix came back with Tom and Harry's food.
"That was weird," Tom commented.
"The leeola root gravy?" Neelix asked, "it tastes fine to me."
"Do you know who that ensign was?" Harry asked.
"Oh that's Ensign Fitzpatrick, I tried talking with her, but she's almost as closed off as Mr. Vulcan."
"Once again, Harry decides to crush on the impossible woman," Tom joked.
"What? I just saw her as long as you did and didn't even know her name at all. How can I be falling for someone I haven't even really met? You're being ridiculous."
"That doesn't stop love at first sight," Tom smirked sitting down with his food.
"You know maybe a friendly social guy like Harry is what the young lady needs!" Neelix suggested, making Harry blush more.
"Me? Social?"
"Sure Harry," Tom said, "I've helped you come out of that shell. Hopefully I'll help get rid of that squeaky clean image you have too. You're too good for your own good you know?"
"Can we just eat now please?" Harry begged.
"OK then," Tom said, then took Neelix aside, "Hey a week's worth of rations say that he'll ask her out in a month."
"You're on!" Neelix grinned.
XXX
After he was done with his breakfast for dinner, Harry returned to his quarters and decided to look up Ensign Fitzpatrick's personnel file. He found out her full name was Miley Fitzpatrick and she was half human. Her other half was Shamazar, a species Harry had never heard of, from a planet with the same name. Not only that, but she used to be a princess of the northern hemisphere on that planet, but gave up her royal title to be in Starfleet. Her father was an admiral that got involved politically with her homeworld and romantically with its northern hemisphere's queen. He has been permanently stationed there. She was actually in Harry's graduating class and valedictorian to his surprise. How had he never noticed her? He decided to correct that immediately. He left his quarters and headed for engineering. He found Lt. Carey there giving tasks for the night crew to take care of, "Hello Ensign. Can I help you?" he asked.
"I'm looking for Ensign Fitzpatrick, is she available?" Harry replied.
"She should be. She's been off duty for hours." Carey replied.
"Really? She said she was on the night shift."
"Nope. She'll be back first thing at 0600. Do you need her specifically because there are one or two officers I can spare if you're working on something."
"No that's ok. Thanks anyways. Good night, lieutenant," Harry said leaving engineering and feeling a little disappointed. He quietly returned to his quarters and went to bed.
XXX
The next morning Harry got up and went through his usual routine for getting ready for his shift. However, when he was finished, he had an hour left before he had to report to the bridge. So he decided since he had the time, he would go to engineering to find Miley. He found her at a workstation running a routine check on the bio-neural gelpacks. She was engrossed in her work and her back was towards him so she didn't notice his entrance. Harry put his hand on her shoulder to get her attention which startled Miley causing her to jump and actually meow loudly.
"Don't sneak up on me like that!" she shouted and then she turned and saw who it was and immediately blushed.
Harry blushed back, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
Miley stuttered, "Um…um it's ok. Is there something I can help you with?"
"Well I just wanted to know why you ran off like that last night. Tom and I don't bite," Harry replied. The mental image Miley got made her laugh, "What?" Harry asked.
"Nothing," Miley replied.
"Yeah and you lied about when your shift was," Harry added.
"Well, I…um…you see…I…I'm really shy around people. I'm sorry I lied."
"Well I hope you aren't shy for too long. We're all stuck here in the Delta Quadrant together. The only friends we're going to have are our shipmates for years to come most likely," Harry pointed out.
"Well I'll try not to be shy, but it will take me some time to get used to everything," Miley said.
"Well…after seeing you last night…I wanted to get to know you and be your friend," Harry said a little shyly.
"Me…why me?" Miley asked.
"Because you looked like you needed one," Harry said.
"I guess I'm so used to being alone, I didn't think I needed a friend," Miley replied.
"Well in the situation we're in, I think we all need as many friends as possible," Harry said.
"I think I would like that," Miley smiled, "After all I've always admired you," then she covered her mouth and blushed realizing what she said out loud.
"You admired me? Why? I don't think I'm that special," Harry said.
"But I think you are…actually very smart and very fun. I've seen you interact with your friends at the academy and I admit there were times I were jealous of you."
"Why is that?" Harry asked.
"I guess because I wanted to be part of your group of friends, but I never had the courage to speak up or say anything so I just continued to study hard and concentrate on becoming the best person I could be," Miley said.
"Well I just started having a new group of friends. Why don't you join us the next time we all eat together?" Harry invited.
It didn't seem possible, but Miley blushed even more, "Thank you I think I shall."
"Great. 1900 hours tonight," Harry smiled.
"I'll be a little late, but I'll try to be there," Miley smiled back. Then Harry left and went to the bridge smiling the whole time. Miley went back to her work, but was smiling as well.
(A/N: And that's it for our first chapter on this one. Next chapter Harry officially introduces his new friend to Tom and B'Elanna. Please leave your reviews for us.)