CHAPTER 6: Oh My, Lydia

"Lizzy to Kathryn, we have…"

All of a sudden there was a rustling sound and this loud annoying voice came over the come, cutting off Lizzy's commentary, "Are you really talking to her? Through that little thing? Brilliant! Hi Kathryn! It's me, Lydia! Can you hear me?"

Kathryn tore her combadge off her uniform and held it at arm's length as Lydia shouted at her then she clipped it back onto her shirt, "yes Lydia, I can hear you perfectly. Hand the com back to Lizzy please?"

"The what?"

Kathryn groaned, "The thing you're using to talk to me...hand it back to Lizzy."

"You're no fun. No wonder you and Lizzy are friends…" Lydia whined.

"I'm so sorry about that Kathryn. She just appeared as Darcy and I were walking by."

"That's quite alright. Can you take her to a quarters in the same wing as yours and make sure she gets settled? I have to stay on the bridge for a few more hours."

"Of course Kathryn. Thank you."

…

An hour later Lizzy had taken Lydia to her room and explained their surrent situation...something about them being holograms and being on a spaceship...Lydia wasn't really paying attention. The only thing she really heard was that there were officers on board…

"Alright Lydia, Darcy and I are going for a walk in the hydroponics bay. You stay here. I don't want to think about what mother would say if something happened to you."

"You spoil all the fun Lizzy," Lydia said pouting as Lizzy just shook her head and left. Waiting an acceptable amount of time for Lizzy to have disappeared, Lydia left her room to go exploring. There were officers galore on this ship, and she wasn't about to leave before flirting with every single one of them.

…

Entering a room she found it occupied by a rather dashing young man working on fixing some sort of mechanical device.

"Hello there. I'm Lydia, and you are?"

"Tom, Tom Paris. Chief pilot here on Voyager."

"What's that your working on Tom?" she said, walking a little closer to him.

"This is the DeltaFlyer, our shuttle craft. It's basically a small version of our spaceship."

"So like a life boat on a frigate?"

"Exactly," he said, flashing his dashing smile.

"Can I help?"

"I don't see why not. Come here and grab this pulse converter. Walking over to him she made sure her fingers bushed his as she took the weird rod-like instrument from his hands.

"Alright now, hold it above the wires, press the button, and wave it over them."

"Which button do I press?"

"The big red one."

"Show me," she said, putting on her best pouty face. She was hoping he would come over behind her and wrap his arms around her as she pointed out the button to press. Instead he just gave her an incredulous look, walked over, and pointed to the big red button on the stick before turning back to his ship. Sighing she waved it over the wires then put it down, sneaking up behind Tom and putting her hands over his eyes, causing him to jump. "Guess who?" she called, playfully. Suddenly her arms were ripped back by an angry looking woman with short brown hair and a rather peculiar birth defect on her forehead.

"Get your hands off my husband," she said.

"B'Lana, cool down. I'm sure Lydia didn't mean any harm," Tom was immediately on the defensive, hands held up in front of him to ward off an attack and calm the woman.

"Didn't mean any harm by it?" she spat, "Oh please! I've spent some time in the Captain's holo novel and this young girl spends all her time chasing after young men, especially officers. I'm sure she just wanted to add you to her collection."

She turned back to Lydia, "Unfortunately for you, this one's off limits. So scram!" Slightly frightened, Lydia backed out of the room slowly and went on her way.

…

Next she entered a room filled with strange looking beds and a few injured people sleeping on them. This must be some sort of hospital she thought to herself.

"Ah, another hologram has come to join us!" A bald man in a blue shirt walked over and began shaking her hand, "How very pleased I am to meet you. I'm the ships EMH - that stands for Emergency Medical hologram, but you can just call me the Dr. I've been programed with over 100 teraquads of medical data, dating back to the Ancient Egyptians…" and he was off, monologue about his various triumphs and achievements. Tuning him out (he wasn't even cute), she looked around at the other young men in the room. None were worth her time so she simply turned around and left, leaving the Dr. talking to himself.

…

"Lieutenant Commander Tuvok…" Lydia read on the doorplate of one of the rooms… "an officer! Perfect!"

Pressing the door chime she heard a deep voice say, "Come in."

Entering she was met with a dimly lit room with candles burning all around. A man sat in the middle of the room, eyes closed, doing who knows what.

"Captain...as you can see I'm a little preoccupied at the moment…" the man said, not opening his eyes.

"Oh la, I'm not the Captain," Lydia said laughing, "I'm Lydia. Lizzy's sister."

Opening his eyes and turning towards her, Lydia noticed he had large pointy ears…

"Lord, your ears! What happened?"

"I am Vulcan," he replied, still staring at her with a deadpan expression on his face.

"And I'm English!" she replied with a smile.

"Yes...well, could you please leave, Lydia. You are interrupting my meditation."

"But I want to talk! Get to know you better," she replied, walking up to him and entwining her hands with his. His hands shot out of hers quicker than light and before she knew it, he had pressed his communication device, "security team, please report to my quarters, intruder alert."

"Alright, alright! I'm leaving!" she cried, backing towards the door, "La, you're worse than Lizzy. Don't' you know how to have little fun?" she asked as she stepped outside.

"I am Vulcan," he said again, as if that explained everything. And the doors closed.

…

Walking into another room, she found she had entered some sort of public dining room. Looking around she scanned the room for any cute boys. One officer caught her eye - was he from the east Indies, China maybe - but he was seated at a table with two other girls who had their hands all over him. Continuing the search her eyes fell on a well built figure in a red shirt sitting alone at a corner table. Per-fect she thought, putting on her best smile and walking over to him. As she approached he looked up and met her gaze.

"Hi, I'm Lydia."

"Commander Chakotay, first officer here on Voyager" he replied, smiling at her, flashing the most perfect set of dimples. Second in command she thought jackpot!

"Can I join you?"

"Of course," he replied, gesturing to the seat across from him.

"So...Chakotay...are you seeing anyone?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes at him. His mind flashed to Kathryn - holding her on New Earth, his anguish as she lay dead in his arms…

"No, I'm not."

"Well then, what are your feelings towards dating a hologram...say, I don't' know…me…" she said, again trying the tactic of slipping her hand into his.

A look of surprise flashed across his eyes, before being replaced by one of relief, "Kathryn!" he called, waving to the petite, auburn haired woman who had just entered the room. She flashed him a dazzling smile and walked over to them.

"Hello Lydia. Wonderful to see you again. May I join you?"

"Of course," he replied, quickly before she could.

As Kathryn sat down Lydia stood up, "I'm so sorry, but I actualy must be leaving. Wonderful to see you again Kathryn." And she left, leaving the two sitting at the table, heads together, talking.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt our conversation…" she said, once Lydia was out of earshot.

"Don't be! She had just asked me if I wanted to date her. Needless to say, I was relieved when you walked in!"

"She didn't!" Kathryn said, surprise coming over her features.

"Oh but she did. Now I know how you felt when Mr. Collins proposed…" they both left at eachother awkward situations and continued to have a very pleasant meal.

…

Lydia in the meantime was walking back to her quarters, dejected and sad. A ship full of officers and none of them would date her. She wasn't looking at where she was going and ended up bumping into someone.

"Lydia...when did you get here?"

"Wickham…"

…

A few hours later Lizzy burst into Wickham's quarters to find him and Lydia together on the bed.

"Lydia! What are you doing!"

"Lizzy! I'm so glad you're here! Wickham and I are going to be married as soon as we get back to Longuebourne!"

"Why do I not believe that, Mr. Wickham…"Lizzy said, turning to him and glaring.

"Lizzy, let me explain…"

"No Mr. Wickham, I'm done listening to you. I'm going to talk to Kathryn about this…"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Lizzy," he said, a menacing look in his eyes…

…

"Lizzy, calm down. Everything will be fine. Nobody ever will have to know that you guys came here - to them it will be like the time when you left - and thus no one will know that Wickham and Lydia were here together, much less slept together."

"That's what I thought! However, he's already threatened to tell everyone when we get back and ruin her forever! Oh Kathryn, what can I do!"

"in that case, there's only one thing to do. They must marry, yet he is such a man."

"Oh yes! They must marry! But how?"

During this exchange, nobody noticed that Darcy had left the room.

…

Half an hour later he was back… "Miss Elizabeth, It's all taken care of. The wedding will take place tomorrow, with Miss Janeway's help of course," he said, bowing to her.

"But Darcy, how?" Lizzy said, in a state of complete shock.

"I told him I'd pay off his debts then some when we got back home again."

"Oh Darcy! I can't let you do that."

"No Miss Elizabeth...the fault was mine and so must the remedy be. If I had let everyone know of Wickham's true character, none of this would have happened. You must allow me to make ammends for my errors in judgement."

Several moments of silence passed then she came and took his hand in hers, eyes shining, "Thank you Mr. Darcy. I promise no one in my family will know what you have done for us, if that is your wish."

"It is," he replied, looking down at her lovingly.

Kathryn, feeling slightly awkward, quietly left the room, glad things had reached this happy conclusion.