Chapter One: Kes

Janeway smiled at the crew of Voyager, who were gathered in the mess hall. "And there's one more piece of business we must attend to before every one goes about celebrating their holidays. As some of you may know, on the old sailing ships of Earth, Christmas day brings an interesting tradition," she began. "On Christmas day, the youngest crew member takes over the duties of the captain, becoming Captain for the day. I quite enjoy this tradition, I was once honoured with the role, on my first holiday on board a Starfleet vessel. This year, and I'm sure this will be the same for at least a few years, our youngest crew member is Kes."
Kes smiled and stood up to walk to the Captain who had waved her over. Kes embraced the Captain and accepted her tunic to wear for the day.
"So Captain?" Kes asked. "What can I do?"
"Whatever you wish. You're the Captain today. Commander Chakotay will assist you if you require it," she said. "However, if anything too exciting happens, please make sure I am called to the bridge."
"I will Captain," Kes replied. "Commander Chakotay, we should be on the bridge." Chakotay nodded and followed Kes out of the mess hall and to the turbolift, calling out for the bridge.
In the mess hall, Tuvok approached the Captain Janeway and asked for her plans for the day.
"Well Tuvok, I'm going to take a nap first. That's something a Captain rarely gets to do. Then, when I wake up, I'll have a coffee and go to the holodeck," she said. "Have fun on the bridge."
Tuvok nodded and left the mess hall with Harry Kim following closely behind. Janeway left the mess hall, proceeding to the turbolift, intending to do exactly what she told Tuvok she would do, take a nap.

On the bridge, Kes was easily settling into her temporary role of Captain. Seated in the captain's seat, she called out to Lieutenant Paris to continue course towards the Alpha Quadrant, which he replied to with a cheerful obedience.
Everyone on the bridge prayed that nothing exciting happened that day, not wanting to disturb Captain Janeway if she was napping.

Kes' hours as Captain ticked by, until she told Chakotay that they should go and look in with some departments for progress updates, since Captain Janeway would occasionally do so. Chakotay nodded and the pair left the bridge, handing the conn over to Tuvok.
As they toured Engineering, they were happy that Lieutenant Torres was in a good mood that day, and hoped that their 'inspection' wouldn't sour the half-Klingon's mood any, especially since it was a holiday, and no one would appreciate a half-Klingon in a bad mood on a holiday. Engineering was in a very good state, and Kes moved on, Chakotay at her side.

After touring most of the ship and returning to the bridge, Kes resumed her temporary place in the Captain's chair, pleased that major departments of Voyager were running smoothly, including Engineering, Sickbay and Security.
She had a few hours left in the Captain's chair until she would return command to Captain Janeway. She silently wondered how the Captain's day-off had gone. Talking to Chakotay about exciting things one experiences when in command, Kes decided that it was actually very fun being the youngest person aboard Voyager, especially when it was the holiday season. She would never forget this day, even though she knew that she would probably get to do this again if Captain Janeway decided to participate in this particular tradition again.

Once her time as Captain had expired, Kes also found that she had new respect for Captain Janeway in her role as Voyager's captain. Retiring to her quarters, she had the urge to have some of Neelix's coffee and go to the holodeck to see if there was any type of bath program she could indulge in for a short time. After all, even though nothing really exciting had happened that day, she couldn't help wanting to relax.