Jamie cried and cried and cried. Right away she should have said, I'm sorry, Daddy. Just like she practiced in the brig. I'm sorry, Daddy. She wanted to call him back, to tell him. She was sorry about going to the planet, sorry about getting in the shuttle, she was even sorry teacher and Varoom would get blamed because she was naughty. But she felt the sorriest because she just wanted Daddy to hold her. She didn't know why she said mean things about him and the Enterprise.

I don't hate you, Daddy. Not really.

But her door had already closed, and it was too late.

######

Coming out of Jamie's room Jim stopped to talk to the Nanny. "Jamie's going to be confined to quarters tomorrow when the rest of the children visit the fun park. See that she doesn't leave."

"Oh . . ." Carolyn made a sound, bit her lip and timidly asked, "Permission to speak, sir?"

He made a go on motion.

"I wonder, Captain . . . I'd promised to go to the fun park to help with the children. Ava asked me and I said I would. Would it be possible to find someone else to help her? That is . . . if she's still going to be allowed to take them?"

Sighing, he realized again all the ramifications of Jamie's unexpected and unexplained trip down planet. The teacher had to be disciplined, the shuttle pilot, the whole thing was like a pebble sending out ripples. And to top it off, he still didn't know why Jamie had done it. He'd thought she just wanted to go to the fun park and decided to take matters into her own hand. But now that he'd gotten some rather unsatisfactory answers, he wasn't sure. His daughter's mind was a quandary he couldn't fathom. Right now, his head was pounding and he needed sleep. Maybe his last sleep as Captain of the Enterprise if Ambassador McCale had his way. "I'll be sending word to Ms. Balderdasian that she's required at a disciplinary hearing at 0800 the day after tomorrow. However, there is no need to disappoint the children or keep them from the fun park." He ran a hand over the back of his neck. Blast this tension! "Have you had shore leave yet?"

"No, sir."

"Then why don't you keep your plans to help chaperone. Inform the teacher she'll be expected to take the children as planned."

"What about Jamie?"

"Give her breakfast before you leave and key code the door so she can't . . ." he almost said escape, "leave without someone knowing. I'll have my yeoman check in on her during the day."

"Thank you, sir." She smiled and then turned serious. "Captain? Might I put in a good word for Ava? She loves the children and teaching . . . I'm sure she didn't intend for Jamie to land in the prison."

"Nevertheless, Nanny, she did. She must face the consequences for her actions. She was responsible for Jamie and allowing her to wander into the shuttle deck was irresponsible. It could also have been dangerous."

"Yes, Captain."

Somehow that word, Captain, came out like Bones would say it . . . like an insult.

He'd had enough for one day.

#####

The next morning, he was able to put a few things into perspective. Arriving at the shuttle deck, Jim watched the excited children filing into the shuttles. Varoom had the Explorer all set and Ensign Queat was at the helm of the Advantage. As discreetly as possible, he motioned the teacher to step to the side.

"Yes, Captain."

"I'll expect you at a disciplinary hearing in Briefing Room A tomorrow at 0800. We'll discuss then what action should be taken."

"Yes, sir. Nanny Banks told me."

"In view of what happened yesterday, I don't think I need to remind you that it's imperative you keep the children together and out of trouble."

Her head snapped up and those dark eyes blazed with an anger she didn't dare express. "Yes, sir, I'm sure I understand that much."

"If I had my way, no one would be going back down to Mavaro, but the decision is not mine to make. See that the children enjoy themselves, but make sure you bring them all back."

This time she didn't answer but the contempt on her face said it all. Jim figured he'd gone far enough. Maybe he had - this whole planet was making him crazy. Or maybe it was the Children in Space program. Maybe he had bitten off more than he could chew.

Whatever it was, he knew when retreat was the best option. He left the teacher and the excited chatter of the children swarming around her. The next item on his list was Varoom. Security had determined that the only way Jamie could have gotten to the planet yesterday was sneaking aboard the Explorer.

"Varoom," he called the man out of the shuttle, "I need to speak to you before you leave."

Unsuspecting, he came with a ready smile. "Yes, sir. I'll take good care of the kids for you."

"You do that." Jim steeled himself for what needed to be done. "You'll take this shuttle trip down to the planet but when you get back, you're relieved of duties for the rest of our time here."

"Sir?" Varoom's face held a somewhat confused look. "May I ask why?"

"Because Mister, you had a stowaway onboard yesterday."

"No way."

Jim snapped, "Yes, you did! My daughter somehow got aboard, hid and got down to the planet. It had to be in your shuttle, that's the only way. You're the only one who went down planet."

This time Varoom had the grace to look chagrined. "I - didn't know, sir. I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't do it. Your duty is to do a check of all the cabinets, the head, etc. before taking flight. Isn't that proper procedure? You're also supposed to do a weight check to see that the shuttle isn't carrying excess cargo. Did you follow that procedure?"

"I . . . no, sir." Varoom hung his head.

Jim knew that all the shuttle pilots sometimes waffled on following the weight requirements. They were supposed to check the numbers as each person or piece of cargo came on board, then check it against what was really on board. Any discrepancy meant a thorough search of the shuttle. If Varoom had marked off each person who came aboard, he'd have known something was wrong. "My daughter ended up in the Mavaro prison - surely you heard the story."

"I . . . no, sir . . . I was otherwise occupied yesterday. I'm sorry."

"You'll be a lot sorrier. You're also docked two weeks' pay for not following procedure."

At this the man's face took on a panicked expression. "Two weeks?" He gulped and began to almost plead. "Captain Kirk, could I ask you to rethink this, sir? I have . . . expenses . . . "

"You should have thought of that before you were lax in your duties. Just one slip up out here in space can cost someone their life - or an interplanetary incident. Remember that." He snapped harder than he meant to but wanted to hammer it into the shuttle pilot's head. There was no room in space for carelessness. Not checking the shuttle before taking off was an amateur mistake. One he didn't want repeated. Varoom had always been a hotshot, daring and adventurous. While that could be good in some situations, in others it was like inviting death.

Feeling like a tyrant, Jim left the shuttle pilot ambitiously checking weights as the children came aboard. Checking off the next item on his imaginary list, Jim pulled aside the Nanny as she came up to the shuttle holding two little boy's hands. "May I have a word with you before you leave?"

"Yes, Captain." She smiled down at the children. "Jonah, you take Charles' hand and help him get buckled in."

"Okay." Jonah answered and walked up the ramp into the Advantage.

Jim smiled down at the two and watched them get aboard. "They're going to enjoy the fun park." He wished, not for the first time that morning, that Jamie was going along too. "How was Jamie this morning?"

"Sulking," the nanny answered. "I tried to get her to eat but she swallowed about four bites of oatmeal. She's not very happy."

"No, she's not." He agreed.

"Captain," the nanny began motioning him to follow her to a somewhat quiet corner. Quiet being an iffy word. The shuttle deck was crowded with crewmembers, the chattering noisy children, some of their parents who'd come with last minute admonitions to their offspring or to just wave good-bye. A clanging sound came from inside one of the shuttles as a mechanic bolted one of the seats back into place. It echoed in the vastness of the deck and made speaking almost impossible. "I know that Ava has her hearing tomorrow and I wonder if I might come and give some testimony in her behalf."

"You're welcome to come, Ms. Banks, but I'm not sure what you could say that would change my mind about the teacher's actions."

"Thank you, sir."

"Keep those children out of trouble down planet," he told her as a parting shot.

It was going to be a long day and it had barely begun.

The next item on his imaginary agenda was speaking to Bones. After that, he had work piled up to his ears on the bridge. There were things that had to be done, reports that had to be finished and preparations made for Ambassador McCale's arrival. Sometime today he wanted to go talk to Jamie again . . . but he knew it probably wouldn't happen.

###########

"Well, now," Dr. McCoy came into Jamie's quarters with a covered plate in his hand. Ignoring the little girl's scowl, he forged ahead and sat the plate on the small table in front of her - close enough she could smell the treat. "I was just sitting in my office and a little bird told me there was someone down here who wouldn't eat."

"There's not any birds on the Enterprise," Jamie said. "An' birds don't talk anyway."

"Now that is where you're wrong. There are plenty of talking birds in the galaxy - like Myna's and Parrots on Earth, and those White Winged Dovers on Antari 4. But, you're right, there aren't any birds onboard ship. It's just a saying. However, am I right in believing that you aren't eating?"

"I'm not hungry."

She said it but he could see she was interested in the plate. Trying her hardest not to, he noticed her sniff as she trying to figure out the scent. Eventually, as he knew it would, her curiosity won out. "What's under there?"

"Well, now," he grinned, "if I show you, then you have to promise to eat one."

Jamie thought that over. "What if it's something I don't like?"

"You'll like it."

"I don't know." Biting a corner of her lip, she leaned closer and sniffed openly. "It smells good though. I guess I could eat one if you show me."

Pulling off the silver lid, he watched her face and wasn't disappointed. Jamie's face underwent a transformation and she clapped her hands in delight.

"Are they real? Or those junky things from the food selector?"

"They're real," he whispered, "but don't tell anyone else." McCoy pushed the plate closer to Jamie and watched her grab a chicken nugget in each hand. It didn't take her long to have a mouthful in her eagerness to eat as many as possible. According to what Jim said the Nanny told him, Jamie was on a silent hunger strike. She'd eaten about four teaspoons of oatmeal for breakfast so she must be starving. Especially since she hadn't eaten much after the ordeal yesterday.

"These are good," she mumbled or that's what he thought she mumbled while cramming chicken nuggets in her mouth.

As unobtrusively as possible, McCoy opened the small cooling unit and got out milk and some vegetables the Nanny had stored. He poured a glass of milk, cut up some carrots and Maravoian cucumbers and placed them in front of Jamie. "Why don't you round off your snack with these?"

To his relief, Jamie picked up the vegetables and began to crunch her way through them. When she asked for a dipping sauce, he found some type of red dressing in the cooling unit. Jamie even asked for more carrots and looked sad when the plate was empty of the nuggets.

"I love nuggets," she mourned, picking up crumbs of breading with her finger and licking them off. "Gramma used to take me to McDonald's and we'd buy them. Our favorite one was on the Moon. These are better though. Where did you get them, Dr. McCoy?"

He wiggled his eyebrows. "I have my sources." Pulling out a chair, he sat down across from Jamie and reached into a pocket for another treat. Although it looked like a normal chocolate bar, McCoy had them specially made to include vitamins, special nutrients and other healthy stuff most kids wouldn't eat. "How about dessert?"

"Chocolate!" Jamie squealed. She made short work of tearing off the wrapper and sinking her teeth into the dark squares. "It's yummy," she said with her mouthful. "S'ank you."

"You're welcome."

It didn't take Jamie long to make short work of the chocolate. Now he could tell Jim that the little girl had eaten and was chock full of good vitamins and minerals. Even the nuggets had been scientifically laced with vital things she needed to bounce back from the shock of landing in a prison cell.

Now that he'd fed her, he figured she might be receptive to questions - the other reason for his visit. Pretending interest in the puzzle she'd been working on, he played with a piece that had a blue edging and stared at the completed picture trying to find a place for it. "I guess you're a little sad today . . . that you didn't get to go to the fun park."

"No," she answered without the slightest hesitation. "I didn't want to go to any old fun park anyway." The words were full of false bravado to McCoy's ears and a second later, the little girl sighed and said quietly, "Not much anyway. Javik said there's a ride that whirls you all around."

"Maybe you'll get to go before we leave the planet."

Jamie shook her head. "I don't care."

"Now I bet, if you told your daddy how you ended up down on the planet, he'd probably take you before we leave here."

"No, he wouldn't."

Okay, so that was a dead end. Blast Jim anyway sending him on this spy mission.

McCoy decided to just ask openly. What did he have to lose?

"How did you get down on the planet?"

She glanced up from her puzzle with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "You promise you won't tell anybody? Ever?"

"It's a promise." He could make it in all good conscience because Jim was listening in over the com.

"I flew down myself. I have secret wings and when I want to fly, I say a magic word and I fly."

Deciding to play along, McCoy slipped the piece with blue edges into place. "You don't say. How'd you come by this secret . . . ability?"

"My mama came from a planet where people could fly." She said without the slightest bit of hesitation. "I thought you said you knew her. Didn't you know she could fly?"

"No, I'd have to say I didn't know that."

"She could, she really could." After this statement, Jamie put a couple of pieces in her puzzle then burst out laughing. "I fooled you! I didn't really fly."

He waited a minute and laughed along with her. "You sure did. So, how'd you really get down to the planet?"

A shrug. "On a shuttle."

"You just walked on a shuttle and sat down?"

"No . . ." her voice lowered a little and McCoy hoped Jim was able to hear all this over the com. "I kind of hid."

"Why'd you do that? Does this piece with the green go here?" He handed her a puzzle piece as if they were just trying to build it, not get a confession to her misdeeds.

"No, it goes here." Jamie slipped it into place.

"Were you running away?"

"No."

"Jim thought maybe you wanted to go to the fun park."

"Well, kinda, but that's not why I got on the shuttle. I didn't mean to get on the shuttle, that was an accident."

McCoy cleared his throat, pretended interest in the puzzle and studied the box top as if he needed help with the picture. "How does somebody get on a shuttle because of an accident? You have to go through the pressure lock and surely somebody would see you."

"They didn't. I just followed some people going on shore leave and hid in a cabinet."

"So, you could go down to Mavaro?"

Jamie shook her head until her dark curls bounced from one shoulder to another. "No, I didn't want to go anywhere. I just had to hid in the shuttle until . . . well, until . . .I wasn't even going to get out but then I thought maybe I could just go look at the fun park."

McCoy was trying to figure this out. "There had to be a reason you ended up on the shuttle deck. It's five decks from where the learning center is. Why'd you go all the way down there in the first place?"

"Because . . ."

""Cause why?"

"You sound like Daddy." She sounded annoyed now. ""Cause I had to hide from . . . someone."

"Like a game - hide and seek?"

"No." Jamie stared up at him suddenly as if she'd just figured the whole thing out. "Daddy told you to come here, didn't he? So, he can find out who's shuttle I rode on an' he can holler at somebody."

I told you she'd figure it out, Jim. And blast you anyway for not doing as I said and just hugging your little girl last night. If you hadn't gone all Captain and punished her, she'd probably have told you everything. "What makes you think that?" When you don't want to answer, ask a question back. He'd learned that as a cadet.

Jamie's eyes narrowed and she looked at him fearlessly. "I'm mad at Daddy an' I'm not telling him anything. He don't ever listen anyway. All he cares about is his old ship. He didn't care when that mean old King made me go to jail."

"Now there's where you're wrong. He cared very much." He worked the puzzle a few minutes trying to figure out how to ask her more when he felt a pop, a bang and a slight shuddering of the room. "What the . . ."

"What happened?" Jamie asked, a little frightened. "Did someone shoot at the ship?"

"No, I don't think so . . ." he answered right before the alarm claxtons began blaring and a voice hailed him from the Intership Com.

"Dr. McCoy you're needed in Sickbay. Dr. McCoy."

He jumped up and ran for a com, jammed it on and said, "What's going on?"

"There's been a trilithium tank explosion on the Children's Deck. Three of the painters have been badly burned and a fourth is still trapped between a pressure lock . .."

"On my way - get them shot full of Benzaloid compound and put healing coolers on the burns. McCoy out." Jamie sat at the table her eyes wide as saucers. "I've got to go, Jamie."

"Will the people be okay?"

"They should be. You finish that puzzle and I'll come back later and help you with the codes. Okay."

"Okay," she answered in a scared little voice.

"Don't be scared," he tried to comfort her.

Once in the hall, he stopped at a com and spoke to Jim. "I've just given Jamie lunch and she ate. I'm on my way to Sickbay. You might send Yeoman Miller to keep Jamie company, she's a little scared by all the excitement. Or better yet, go yourself."

"I wish I could, Bones. I'll try to get there later. In the meantime, I'll have Miller check in on her. Let me know what's going on with the painters."

#######

Jim didn't hear Bones reply, but the grumbling response sounded like something better left unsaid. He dispatched Yeoman Miller to Jamie's quarters with a hurried, "Play a game with her or . . . something."

Although his yeoman didn't look too pleased, she'd joined Starfleet to get away from five younger brothers, she obeyed.

"Captain, the Ambassador is hailing the Enterprise with his plans."

"Ask him to wait momentarily," Jim told her. Then, while he kept the Ambassador waiting, he called down to the ship's library and ordered some movie disks sent to Jamie's computer. He'd rather have spent time with his daughter himself but there was no time right now. Maybe if he got away before she went to sleep . . .

"Put him on the screen, Lt."

#######

Varoom was a man squeezed between two choices - neither of them good. All the way down to the planet he'd kept his anger in check. Carolyn had maneuvered to ride in his shuttle and her constant chattering gave him a headache. Not needing a co-pilot, he'd let her sit next to him. Several times he asked her to pipe down so he could think. This hadn't put her in a good mood. When he noticed her frown, he realized that he'd have to make up for it somehow. There might come a time when he'd need her again.

"Sorry, sweet Caro," he whispered for her ears only. "I'm so mad I could spit Rigilian nails - and you know how hard those are."

"What's wrong?"

"The Captain docked me two week's pay for letting his brat stowaway in my shuttle!" He exploded. "Like I'm responsible for those kids onboard. Having kids in space is a bad idea in my opinion. They're a pack of trouble, the lot of them."

One of the little boys had overheard and stuck his tongue out at Varoom.

Carolyn didn't answer right away, so he reached over and grabbed hold of her hand. "You make a cute co-pilot. Sorry I took my anger out on you. I've just got . . . problems and I need those credits."

To his disgust, she didn't succumb this time to his charms. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you need credits?" She asked. "I just loaned you . . . you know."

He sighed. "It's something I can't tell you . . . something I'm ashamed to tell you. . but I used your credits to pay off some . . . debts. Then yesterday, I wrote an IOU which I hoped to make good out of my pay. That is until the Captain axed it. Now I'm in deep space doo again. You don't happen to have any more stashed away . . . do . . ."

"No!" The answer came out sharp.

Uh, oh, sweet Caro was thinking over where her 90,000 credits had gone and not liking the idea much. Thankfully, they had just landed on the planet and the excited screams of the brats turned her attention away from him.

It was just as well. Varoom had work to do. Maybe, if he offered the Tellerite he'd given the IOU a chance to play for double or nothing . . . yes, that was it. The only bad thing Varoom could see was that he'd have to win. Big. Big enough to pay back Caro before she went all virtuous on him and told someone. Someone who'd get him deeper in trouble. Big enough to keep him from defaulting on the debts he'd made playing Mavaro Rings and writing IOU's. Big enough to keep him out of Mavaro Prison.

Varoom had a plan . . . big enough . . . and today was his lucky day.