Earth

Disclaimer:

I don't own Kathryn, Chakotay, etc. I'm not using this for money. Yatsa, Yatsa, and Yatsa.

Claimer:

I own the characters of K'Atja Lexi Torres, G'Iovanna Ava Torres, S'Kyler James Paris, Thomas Eugene Paris Junior, Kenji Hallen Kim, Annique Nelle Kim, Ireland Elizabeth Janeway, Jamison Rose Janeway, and Moira Kady Janeway.

-*-*-

Another Close Call for the Secondary Crew

-*-*-

My mother and father… Correction – I have spent so long in the Delta quadrant that it is strange to know that we are finally going to Earth. I wonder what it will be like. Naomi Wildmen-Pavlik says that Earth has water and land and trees and stuff.

I'm sorry. I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Ireland Elizabeth Janeway. You can call me Eirtae. My parents are Captain Kathryn Maureen Janeway and Commander Chakotay. I am their oldest child at fifteen. My only siblings are my younger twin sisters, Jamison Rose and Moira Kady. They're six. But mam's pregnant again, so there's hopefully going to be a boy among us.

My best friends are my "cousins". There's fourteen-year old K'Atja Lexi Torres, her twin sister G'Iovanna Ava Torres, and their younger brothers – S'Kyler James Paris and Thomas Eugene Paris Junior. Kyle's eight ½ and T.J.'s four. Their parents are Aunt B'Elanna (Torres-Paris) and Uncle Thomas (Eugene Paris).

After the Torres-Paris clan are my Aunt Annika (although most everyone still calls her Seven) and my Uncle Harry Kim. They only have two kids – Kenji Hallen Kim, twelve, and Annique Nelle Kim, nine. Annique has been hoping for the last three years to get another sibling (preferably a girl), but apparently Annique wasn't an easy pregnancy and Aunt Annika got really sick (that's what I remember), so my aunt and uncle decided to not have anymore kids.

Naomi Wildmen-Pavlik is the last of the group. She was born on the ship too. She was the first ever born on Voyager. She has a little boy. Nikolai Lucas Pavlik. He's only two, but he loves hanging out with us on the holo-deck. Allen Pavlik is Naomi's husband. They are young, but they are the cutest couple aboard the ship.

Anyway, we recently found out that there's a way to get to Earth. I don't know what it will be like when we get there. I mean I've spent my entire life aboard Voyager, as well as everyone on the "Secondary Crew" as we are called. I was born here. I have all my friends here. I don't want to go to Earth. None of us SC's do. The one thing that we agree on is that we think, "Earth is a nice place to visit, but we won't want to live there." We don't know what will become of each other, although when we get back we know that Voyager is headed to the scrap heap. The ship is now going on twenty-five, and pieces of things have been replaced by alien parts. My mom often comments on how old the ship is and she doubts that it can go another light-year without crashing.

Time has been my enemy, and the others too. Over the years we've found ways to skip light-years and fly closer to Earth, although a warm-hole that was supposed to bring us to Earth when I was six, set us back about ten years. Mam was pissed – and that's saying it nicely. She used a couple of choice words that I'm not supposed to say. The children on the other hand – we were ecstatic, but it gave us more time. We don't want to go to Earth. Not ever. We love the delta quadrant and everything in it. Each planet is something new, and we love it.

But now, we are going to have to leave the Delta Quadrant and Voyager not long after. I won't let it happen.

Of course, this could be just another thing that could be a great disappointment. So I'm not extremely worried.

Aw, Hell, who am I kidding! I'm scared as anything. I really don't want to go to Earth. The Delta Quadrant is home! I was born here, I've grown up here, and my sister's were born here. I was planning on being married here, and having a family, and dying here.

-*-*-

"Morning, Jami. Morning, Moi." I say to my sisters.

"Morning, Eirtae." They answer in unison.

Kenji walks into the Mess Hall followed by K'Atja and G'Iovanna.

"Morning, Kenny. Atex, Anva." I say, using their nicknames.

"Mornin'." Kenny says back.

"Where's Niq?" Anva asks.

"Sleeping." Kenny answers.

I look around, "Naomi!"

The twenty-five year old walks over, "Morning guys. Wanna watch Nikolai for a minute while I get some breakfast?"

"Sure." Us girls answer.

Looking up at Atex and Anva I'm sudden curious, "Where's Kyle and T.J.?"

"T.J.'s grounded. Apparently he made Dad like two hours late by pretending that he lost Harmon. Dad was all over the ship, and they ran into mom. She got T.J. in so much trouble with Dad." Atex says.

"Kyle's sick. Somehow he managed to pick up the flu from one of his holo-games. I keep telling him he has to leave the safeties on, but you know Kyle." Anva says.
I nod, and watch as Megan, one of the twins aboard Voyager, walks into the Mess Hall. She walks over and sits down at the table next to us, "Morning, Meg." I say. She is older then us, but she often times comes to play with us and we don't mind. The more the merrier.

"Morning, Eirtae." Meg says, "Don't you guys have classes today?"

"No. There's no classes for the rest of the week while they investigate the portal." Kenny says.

Naomi walks over and takes Nikolai from me, "Thanks." Nikolai puts his arms out for me and I hug him. He and Naomi smile and walk away.

"So, who wants to go hang out on the holo-deck? I found this old game of Dad and Uncle Tommy's. It's this black and white space mission thing. I think I can reactivate it from the beginning, but I'll need some help from a certain someone." Kenny says, looking at me.

I shake my head, "Not now. Mam is going to kill me if I don't go up to the bridge and bring her her coffee. She has this thing all of a sudden that I have to bring her coffee from the Mess Hall that's the right temperature. Just because it's the only one that wasn't affected by my little prank."

"That was really funny though!" Atex says.

"I know. I don't see why she got so mad when the replicator gave her a coffee mug with a hot catfish in it."

"Maybe because it was three in the morning?" Anva says, "You know that Aunt Kath is no good for anything until she's had her coffee."

"Good point." I say and walk over to get the coffee from the replicator. I walk past my friends, and to the turbo lift. I get a smile from another of the teens aboard the ship – Robert Willem Sokolich. He's a cute boy, only a year younger then me, with blue eyes and raven black hair that comes to the nape of his neck. I see him every so often, mostly in classes. I know he likes me.

I get off the lift at the bridge and walk to my mother. She is patting her bulging middle, while sitting in her chair. I come to the banister that breaks the bridge into two parts, and go beneath it.

"Hi, Ireland." She says, taking the coffee.

"Maammm!!" I whine, "It's Eirtae! Do I look like a green island?"

She just smiles and looks up at me.

"Are you okay, Mam? You look kinda pale."

"Yes. I'm just a little tired."

Papa walks over and looks at me, "Why don't you see if you can get her to go back to bed?"

"Sure." I answer. I look back at my mother, "Mam, you don't look so good. Come on, I'll take you home. Papa can handle everything here."

She looks at me, and I make the 'Mammy, please!' face. She's never denied that face.

"Okay, Eirtae. I'll go. Chakotay, help me up." She puts her hands out, and Papa helps her to her feet. I smile at him, and he smiles back.

-*-*-

It's common knowledge on the ship that Mam has carried two sets of twins already, so guessing that Mam was carrying another set was easy. I guess I should explain that. I was supposed to be a twin. I had a brother – Justin Hughes Janeway, but he died about a day after we were born. Mam and Papa waited eight years before trying for more children, which resulted in Jami and Moi. Now she is pregnant again. I figured that they'd probably let me name them. (They did promise me after all!) So I already picked out names for boys – Chakotay Junior and Justin Hughes Janeway II. If they're girls – Cristin Eveleen and Cailin Erina. And yes – I've completely lost my mind.

Anyway, mam's asleep in our quarters, and I now I get to go help Kenny with that holo-deck program…

-*-*-

"All set!" I say excitedly to Kenny and Anva.

Kenny smiles, "This is gonna be sweet."

I look at him, "Kenny, man, you've gotta get away from reading those 20th century books and stuff."

"Look who's talking!"

"Funny. I wouldn't start, 'coz all I have to do is press this button and the program goes back into the depths of the computer." I tease.

Kenny continues working on his panel and then snaps shut his tricorder. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Jami, Moi, and Niq say.

"Let's go!" Atex says, as if she were going to explode.

"Computer run program." Kenny says, and suddenly the holo-deck turns to black, white, and shades of gray. My outfit of 20th century jeans and a t-shirt are unaffected, while the others clothes change. They are now clothed in jeans, and aviator jackets.

"Man, you look weird!" I tease Kenny again.

"Well, you always wear that crap so I can at least say someone looks normal." He comments.

I look around, "I can't believe Uncle Harry and Uncle Tommy made this."

"Why? What you guys are the only ones with imaginations?" Someone says from behind us.

Uh oh. Red Alert.

I turn around, "Uncle Harry, Uncle Tommy, Papa." I mumble.

They're smiling, so we can't be in that much trouble.

"We…umm…we were…"

"Use words, Eirtae." Atex smacks my arm.

All of a sudden my uncles and my father start laughing. I'm not going to ask. Really I'm not.

My father suddenly regains his composure and looks at me, "You guys must've crossed some wires somewhere while regenerating the program." He pauses, "Your mother is going to kill you Eirtae."

"What did I do?" I ask.

"At about the same time that you guys must've started playing with the computer, the replicator started making the props from this program instead of what it's supposed to make."

I'm going to kill Kenny.

"Kenji Hallen Kim! I'm going to rip you to shreds!" I yell before we start running.

-*-*-

"Chakotay to Eirtae." My commbadge (every kid on Voyager has one when they are old enough to use it) beeps.

"Yes, Papa."

"Could you come to the bridge, please?"

"Yep. Gimme a sec."

"Okay."

I look out the window. That damn wormhole, big enough for Voyager to fit through, takes up most of the view. And believe me, I hate it. I sigh, and get up.

I leave our quarters and head to the turbolift. I get on, "Bridge." Off we go. I'm so tired of this. It stops, and I get off, and into the sea of people. "Okay…what's going on?"

The senior staff (Uncle Harry, Uncle Tom, Uncle Tuvok, Uncle Neelix, Aunt Lanna, Mam, and Papa) plus the secondary senior staff (Me, Kenny, Niq, Atex, Anna, Robbie, and Elisa Delaney-Richards) are all up here, as well as my sisters, Kyle, T.J., Naomi, and a few others.

Papa looks at me, "We're having a vote, and since you're apparently the leader of the secondary crew, we wanted you up here."

"A vote on what?"

"Whether we go through the wormhole, or whether we stay here."

I look at him, "You've got to be kidding me! You what we're going to chose."

"Well, it's more like those democratic textbooks you were telling us about."

I smile and turn around. I face my friends, "All in favor of staying in the Delta Quadrant, raise your hands." Big surprise – all of them raise their hands.

"All in favor of going to Earth…"

I turn around to see who on the Senior Staff raised their hands. Oh-Kay, I'm officially blown away, "Since when do you guys want to stay in the delta quadrant? I mean you complain about the datastreams and everything. All you guys talk about most days is a way back!"

Mam speaks first, "We also want what's best for you guys. If you guys want to stay a while longer, we will."

"Really?"

"Really. Besides, Pathfinder just sent us a datastream with some designs that could get us home any day we wanted."

"So this was meaningless torture meant to piss us off?"

"Now that we have the new data from Pathfinder, yes."

"Love ya' too, Mam." I smile, and walk back to the lift. My friends follow me, and as soon as the doors close, we start screaming with joy.

Hey – it's just another close call for the secondary crew.

-*-*-

Cassie Jamie

noahXfiles@aol.com

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