For disclaimer, see instructions on part two.
Captor of your Soul, part III: exit airlock two
Tom got done pacing sickbay for what seemed like the millionth time and started the million and first. He was trying to figure out what it was that he had done to deserve all this. He lost his best friend and his wife and in the blink of an eye everyone in sickbay had disappeared, including their bodies. And now he was trapped in sickbay. It was as if reality had a personal vendetta against him and wanted nothing more than to see him suffer. Too bad it isn't possible for reality to hold a grudge. He looked at the biobed where B'Elanna used to lay and could almost see her, but he knew it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Pausing to look at his reflection in a console, Tom gasped at his own appearance. Worry lines crossed his face, his eyes were red and blotchy, although probably not as much al they were before, and his tar looked like it had seen a tornado. There was little he could do about the worry lines or his eyes, but Tom pawed at his hair until it looked presentable again. Turning around to continue his pacing, Tom stepped on something. Upon further investigation he found that it was the doctor's mobile emitter. "Not bad," he said aloud, "too bad I don't have the slightest clue how to work it." Just then Tom thought he heard the door open, but he shrugged it off as a figment of his imagination. So when he thought he sensed someone behind him, he thought it was wishful thinking of a man who had been alone for too long and questioned his own sanity. Then someone tapped Tom on the shoulder, causing him to jump and turn around at the same time. What Tom found shocked him more than the tap on the shoulder had. There in front of stood Harry, grinning like a fool. "Ahhh!" Tom screamed and scrambled backwards. "What Harry asked, "You look like you've seen a ghost." "I think I have," Tom replied, "You were found in your quarters with no brain pattern and severe neurological trauma, you might as well of been dead." "Really, these guys didn't bother to tell me that," said Harry, gesturing behind him to Tuvok and Chakotay. "You're going to have to forgive us for not making sickbay on the top of our places to visit list," said Chakotay, crossing his arms. "Not many of us know what's going on, they're hoping to come across someone who does eventually. I was just on my way to the mess hall, I'll fill you in on what's going on, or as much as we know, on the way," offered Harry hopefully. Cautiously, Tom walked forward and in a sudden movement pinched Harry on the neck. "Ow," cried Harry, clutching at the offending spot on his neck, "What was that for?" "You're Harry," replied Tom, grabbing Harry's and dragging him outside, "Let's go." "Now it's gonna look like I've got a hickey," Harry moaned. "It's about time," Tom replied, "When was the last time you saw any action? When you said goodbye to Libby?" "When did I tell you about her?" Harry asked. "Let's see, about the second day after I saved you from Quark back on Deep Space Nine, then again when I offered you that double date with Megan and Jenny Delainy, right after you got out of that alien recreation of Earth, need I go on?" Tom replied. "You've made your point," Harry sighed. "While we're on the subject, have you seen B'Elanna?" Tom asked. "Afraid not," said Harry, "But Tuvok and Chakotay are still trying to open some doors." "I hope she's alright," Tom sighed. "She knows how to take care of herself," Harry replied. After an awkward silence, Harry said, "Ah, yes, the mess hall. I never thought I'd be so happy to see this place." "Way to change the subject," Tom muttered as they walked inside, "Hey, I found the Doctor's mobile emitter, you want to try to make it work?" "I'll try," said Harry. After fiddling with it for a minute he said, "I can't get it to work, B'Elanna might be able to figure out what's wrong, but I don't know enough about it." "Then we'll just have to ask her when we find her," Tom said. Even though he sounded confident, his face said otherwise. Harry looked at Tom's hand and found that he was moving his wedding ring around on his finger like he was extremely worried about her.
"Did we think to try the second door to the Captain's ready room?" Chakotay asked Tuvok as soon as Tom and Harry had left. "I don't believe we did," Tuvok replied. Slapping himself on the cheek Chakotay exclaimed, "How could we be so stupid! Let's go!" They arrived a few minutes later and were appalled to find that the door opened and Captain Janeway was sulking inside. "This is going to score me big points with her," Chakotay thought as he stepped inside. "Captain?" he asked cautiously. "Coffee!" she cried, struggling to put together a coherent sentence, "no replicators, no com system, couldn't leave." Janeway collapsed sobbing into Chakotay's arms. "Um," stammered Chakotay, "are you sure you need it? I mean, people been here for hours and while practically out of their minds with boredom, not hungry." Janeway pulled herself together and said, "I suppose you're right, I guess I'm just so used to drinking it that I didn't take the time to notice that I didn't need it." "With all due respect, you should really switch to decaf," Chakotay said cautiously. "You know, I told myself the same thing when this all started, maybe I'll try that," Janeway replied, "Thank you Commander. Now then, Tuvok, let's go." The Captain grabbed Tuvok by the arm and dragged him in sensor range of the door. Chakotay was about to tell her that door didn't open when it did. "We couldn't open that door before," said Chakotay, obviously confused as they walked onto the bridge, "And how did you know that Tuvok was the only person who could open the doors?" "I didn't, I just felt hyper and dragged him over here," replied Janeway, "As for the door, that's kind of weird." "No kid-ding," said Chakotay, transfixed by the viewscreen. Following his gaze, Tuvok and Janeway found the screen in heavy static with a faint image behind it. Chakotay murmured, "Through the static I can almost see…" "The warp core!" Janeway finished excitedly, "Chakotay, take ops, I'll get the engineering section, let's try to clear this up for them."
"That should do it," said Chakotay a few minutes later. Janeway stepped out to the center of the bridge and found at least thirty people jumping around in an excited frenzy. Eventually someone started trying to work their way to the display screen. The rest of the people weren't making it very easy for them. Eventually they fought their way through the crowd and up to the display screen. "B'Elanna," breathe the Captain, "It's nice to see you." "Likewise," replied B'Elanna, "You'll have to excuse everybody, they're really excited that this actually worked." "Why was this such a hard thing?" asked Janeway. "I don't know how to put this mildly so I'll just say that there's no main computer." "That changes things," Janeway muttered, "How'd you do it." "We had many ideas," B'Elanna explained, "One of the stranger ones was to do Morse code with the lights. We almost projected holograms of ourselves on the holodeck or sickbay, but you need the computer to do that. So we figured we'd use the external communications and have the warp core make it go through the deflector dish. From there we could use the external sensors to pick it up. That still wouldn't do it, though, because while you can put a ship on screen with sensors, it wouldn't be able to do that with vibrations through the deflector. So we used the phasers and their ability to change frequencies and put our image on the main screen. And what do you know, it worked." "It's a good thing you're down there," said Janeway. "It seems like you know a bit more about what's going on than we do," Chakotay spoke up, "Would you mind clueing us in before my head explodes?" "Where's the sport in that?" B'Elanna asked sarcastically. "I think Chakotay can suffer a little longer," said Janeway, "I'd like to know who you've got know there. "Okay," replied B'Elanna and she called to the people around her, "Come here a minute people, the Captain wants to know who's here. Hold still until I say your name, then go over there or something 'cause I can't see you all at once, I'm kinda short over here. You got something to write this down with, Captain?" Janeway waved a padd in the air and nodded. "Let's see here," said B'Elanna, "We got Naomi Wildman…" "Wait," Janeway interrupted, "Naomi Wildman?" Yeah," replied B'Elanna, "Naomi, come here a minute, the Captain wants to see you." Naomi ran over and B'Elanna picked her up so she could be seen. "Hi Captain," said Naomi, waving. Janeway smiled and waved back. Once B'Elanna set Naomi down, Janeway said, "Her mother will be happy to see her." "She'll be happy to see her mother," replied B'Elanna, "I tried to help, but somehow it just wasn't the same for her." "You played mommy for her?" asked Janeway in astonishment. "I'm hurt," said B'Elanna sarcastically, "actually, I was the one who found her, with a little help from Vorik and somehow I couldn't find anyone who was better qualified for the job." "Why did you find her with help from Vorik?" Janeway asked. "Vorik was the only one who could open doors," B'Elanna explained. "Was?" said the Captain. "For some reason he lost that ability," B'Elanna replied. Janeway started thinking out loud "That's strange because Tuvok can open doors and…""I'm sure we'll be able to figure this out later, but right now you wanted to know who's down here?" B'Elanna interrupted. "Just a second," The Captain stepped out of the range of hearing of the display screen. When she came back she said, "I sent Tuvok to get Tom and Samantha Wildman." B'Elanna could see Tuvok walking across back of the bridge so she called, "Tuvok wait! Try the doors you couldn't open before again, they might open." "You've got a lot of explaining to do, Lieutenant," Janeway said as Tuvok left. "Am I in trouble?" asked B'Elanna. "I don't know," said Janeway with a smile, "confusing for Captain is regular court marshal material." "I'll try to rectify that unfortunate situation, but after I tell you who's down here, okay?"
"Everybody's been taken," the Doctor said sullenly as he walked into cargobay two with Icheb in tow. "What do you intend to do?" asked Seven as she stepped down from her alcove. "The question is what are we going to do, and I haven't gotten that far yet," replied the Doctor. "We did promise the crew we would help them," Icheb intervened. "If you want to get technical, the Captain promised the crew for us," the Doctor pointed out, "but whether or not we're gong to help them is not up for debate, we need to figure out how." "We can't save them from something we can't find," said Seven. "Crewman Harren said that it is probably a ghost," Icheb reminded them. After a look from the Doctor he added, "I'm using that term loosely." "How do we find some thing of supernatural origin," asked Seven. "I'm hoping that was a rhetorical question," the Doctor pleaded. "It was not," Seven replied. "Maybe we could reconfigure our optical sensors to detect spacial distortions, or energy patterns," Icheb suggested. "We could," replied the Doctor, "but the could be a least a dozen different things we might have to look for and only one of them might work. Even with all three of us searching there is still much less of a chance that one of us finds it than we miss it altogether." "We already know where it is," Seven pointed out, "controlling Tuvok." "But with the ability to leave him and disappear at any time," the Doctor replied. "It is possible that anything we try to do will result it it's disappearance and therefor loosing all chance of rescuing them," Icheb pointed out. After a moment of thoughtful silence the Doctor said, "If we don't do anything it will leave eventually anyway, what we need is a way to make it come to us." "A séance," Seven stated flatly. "How do you know about those?" the Doctor asked. "Lieutenant Tuvok mentioned one when he was searching for the person behind the incapacitated former Maquis," Seven replied, "my curiosity was aroused so I did some research on the subject. The calling of the dead, a strange ritual indeed." "Unorthodox, maybe, but it seems like the best we're going to come up with," said the Doctor, "then again, it could all be a load of hooey." "If it's really a ghost we're dealing with here, do you think it could be a deceased member of the crew out for revenge?" Icheb asked. "It's no entirely unthinkable," replied Seven. "There was once a theory that ghosts are people who died with unfinished business," said the Doctor, "Every member of this crew has business that will remain unfinished until we get home. Maybe a spirit was lonely." Seven pouted "I'm going to drop my usually calm demeanor long enough to say, are you trying to creep us out?" "Maybe, is it working?" the Doctor replied. "Are we going to do this or not?" asked Icheb, bringing them back to the task at hand. "Um, yeah," replied the Doctor, "holodeck."
"So what you're saying is that the reason we can't open some doors is because the room behind them doesn't exist because no one's been brought from that room?" Janeway asked, trying to keep all the information straight. "Yeah," B'Elanna replied, "and you're trying to tell me that we're stuck in some alien ghost?" "Yeah," said the Captain. "Well, that's one way to get inside someone's head," B'Elanna muttered. "And we're trying to tell each other that Vorik and Tuvok can open the doors because that alien is possessing them?" Janeway asked. "I suppose that since the alien has or had control over their bodies, they have some control over what's happening to us," B'Elanna said. Janeway turned at the sound of the door opening to admit Samantha Wildman. The Captain gestured for her to stand in front of the display screen. "Lieutenant Paris was in the middle of a poker game, he'll be here in a minute," Samantha told B'Elanna. "Always the gentleman," B'Elanna said, smiling, "I'll get Naomi." Turning away from the display screen B'Elanna called, "Naomi, could you come here for a minute?" Naomi started walking, no too quickly in the general direction of B'Elanna. She also started singing, "We have here some mutilated monkey meat, mashed and grounded spider heads, shish-ka-bobed tiger tails, choices in the school cafeteria, and me without my spoon, but I've got a straw!" She was abruptly cut off when B'Elanna clamped a hand over her mouth. After a forced smile at Samantha, B'Elanna called, "Chell, what have you been teaching her!" Removing her hand from Naomi's mouth, B'Elanna straightened up and said, "Sorry, as soon as we get out of this I'll have the Doctor purge her memory." "That won't be necessary, Lieutenant, that was actually my favorite song when I was growing up," Samantha replied. "I suppose you'll want to talk to her," B'Elanna stammered, "Just a second. B'Elanna got down on all fours and said to Naomi, "Okay, you can stand on my back, put one foot on my shoulder blades and the other on my hips." Naomi climbed up and B'Elanna cried, "Move you right foot farther down before you break my back!" Naomi shifted position and straightened up saying, "Hi mom." "Hi Naomi, are you alright?" Samantha replied. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Naomi asked. "Well, just looking up and I'm not there has to be a little scary," Samantha said. "I was, but then B'Elanna came and made me feel better, she even got me Flotter," Said Naomi, raising up the doll so her mom could see it. "I'm glad you had someone so sweet to take care of you," replied Samantha, "Where is she anyway?" "I'm standing on her back," explained Naomi. "Really?" asked Samantha, "Well, I suppose I'd better keep it short." "Tell your mom to take her time," said B'Elanna. "B'Elanna said to take your time," Naomi said. "I can't make her stay there for too long," replied Samantha, "what have you been doing?" "I got a tour of engineering and B'Elanna explained what happens during a warp core breech," Naomi said excitedly. "Exciting stuff?" Samantha asked. "Yeah, I never knew there is so much energy right there in that little, er, not so little tube," Naomi replied. "Did you even know that the warp core was there?" Samantha pointed out." "Maybe not, but how would I if I'm usually not allowed in here?" Naomi explained. "You do have a point?" said Samantha, shrugging. "What have you been doing?" Naomi asked. "Nothing as interesting as a tour of engineering, mostly just talking to people," Samantha replied, "Oh look, Lieutenant Paris is here, I'd better let him and Lieutenant Torres talk." "Okay, love you Mom!" said Naomi. "I love you too," Samantha replied. Naomi started getting down, but tripped and fell. They were below visual range of the view screen and could only be hear faintly because they weren't talking directly into the microphone. Samantha could hear a faint crack, an oof, and an ouch. "What happened?" Samantha asked. Naomi started jumping so she could be seen and calling, "I'm okay mommy! B'Elanna saved me!" "What was that crack?" inquired Samantha. B'Elanna got up, halfway double over like she had the wind knocked out of her, and groaned, "Probably my elbow." "Funny bone?" asked Samantha wincing. "Yeah," replied B'Elanna. "So, what exactly happened?" Tom asked, coming forward. "As Naomi was getting down her foot got caught on the back of my uniform. She started falling backwards so I dove underneath to break her fall," B'Elanna explained. "I don't know what to say," breathed Samantha. "Don't mention it. The floor in here is really hard, she wouldn't have stood a chance," B'Elanna replied. "Thank you," Samantha exclaimed, "Now I'd better leave you two to talk." "Bye mom!" said Naomi, jumping up once again. "Bye sweetie," Samantha called, "Thank you Lieutenant." "All in a days work," she replied, "and you can call me B'Elanna. It's no like we're on duty or anything." Samantha smiled and left, leaving Tom alone in front of the viewscreen. "So, I heard you were playing poker, who won?" B'Elanna asked tentatively. "If you must know, it was Crewman Terek," Tom replied sheepishly. "How much did you loose?" B'Elanna inquired, getting right to the point. "Eighty two," Tom said, sullenly, then he smiled and said, "In poker chips." "Poker chips," B'Elanna exclaimed, "that's not your style." "I suggested it after a tip from Harry," Tom exclaimed, "Something about getting creamed on the holodeck by Terek." "Where did you get poker chips and a deck of cards from without the replicator anyway?" B'Elanna asked. "It seems that Neelix keeps them in a cupboard in the kitchen," Tom explained. "Smart guy," B'Elanna muttered. "You really scared me," said Tom. "With what?" asked B'Elanna, "Suddenly having no soul or saving Naomi from the floor?" "Actually, I was still trying to figure out how Naomi got so tall when that happened, but when Joe Carey found you in engineering I thought I would never see you alive again," Tom replied. "Sorry," B'Elanna said. "It's okay, at least you're still around. I might never be able to see you in person though. Tuvok said that almost everyone is accounted for, but even if we find the last three people, we won't be able to get to where you are," Tom replied. "Then we'll just have to wait until the Doctor gets us out," B'Elanna reassured him. "I guess so," said Tom, sounding less than confident, "So, you were mommy to Naomi?" "Yeah," replied B'Elanna, "Are you going to rub it in?" "No, I'm just wishing that I could have been there to help you," Tom said. "You're sweet," B'Elanna smiled. "I try," replied Tom. "Anything interesting happen up there?" B'Elanna asked. "Well, I found the Doctor's mobile emitter, but no one seems to be able to get it to work, any ideas why," Tom explained. "Remember when we first got it, I said that we wouldn't be able to just replicate another, we'd have to build it from scratch? That's probably the problem. I'd have to examine it to be sure though," B'Elanna replied. "I love you," said Tom. "You're not giving up are you?" B'Elanna asked. "No, but I wanted to tell you before I no longer have the chance," Tom replied. "That sounds like giving up to me," said B'Elanna, crossing her arms. "Well, what if someone else comes and wants to come and talk to someone who's down there," Tom explained. "In that case, I love you too," B'Elanna replied, blowing him a kiss.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Doctor?" Icheb asked. "If I say no what will you do?" replied the Doctor. "I was just trying to make sure that you know enough about this to do more help than harm for the crew," said Icheb. "The séance is the best option we have," the Doctor explained, "And we're going to try it." Seven walked onto the holodeck and after a brief look at her surroundings, asked, "What is the use of all these decorations?" "Supposedly it's necessary to attract the spirits," the Doctor replied. "We'd best get underway," Seven suggested. The Doctor gave them each a padd and a tricorder and they all sat down around a table and clasped hands. The Doctor said, "Spirits of the past, move among…" He was cut off when a disembodied voice said, "You can cut that out, I'm here." "Um, can you make yourself visible?" the Doctor asked, "It would be much easier to talk t you that way." "Oh, sure, why not," it replied and suddenly there was a small, white, slightly see through apparition floating in the air above them, "This good?" "Yes, thank you," the Doctor replied, "do you have a name?" "Casper," it said. Icheb leaned over and whispered to Seven, "I hope he's a friendly ghost." "Are you responsible for the disappearance of our crew's souls?" asked the Doctor. "No, but it that what this is about?" replied Casper, "because it could be one of my people that is responsible." "What is it that your race does?" Seven asked. "We take the souls of people where they stay for the rest of eternity with whatever they want. Often times many people's souls are in the same place, families for instance. I believe it's what you might call heaven," Casper explained, "Every once in a while one of our people go crazy and take the souls of people before they are dead. Instead of putting them in a paradise they are tortured. Those souls remain there until they go crazy and cease to exist." "Is there any way we can get them back?" asked Icheb. "No, I'm afraid not," replied Casper. "If there is any information on your species we could have we might be able to devise a way to save our crew," Seven suggested. "Very well," said Casper. He passed through their tricorders and padds. "You now have all the information on our kind, good luck," said Casper. "If we do come up with something we have no way of finding the being doing this to us," said the Doctor, "If it's not too much to ask, could you find him and bring him back here?" "I will bring him here," Casper replied and he left flying right through the wall. After looking at his padd and tricorder the Doctor said, "I think I might have just the thing. Computer, activate program EMH gamma pi." A second later they were standing in front of an old wearhouse. "Where are we?" asked Seven. I'll explain later, follow me," replied the Doctor. They were soon inside climbing up a metal staircase. Upon reaching the top, the Doctor opened a door and walked inside, Seven and Icheb cautiously following behind him. Grabbing two gray suits off of a shelf and tossing them to Seven and Icheb, the Doctor said, "Put these on." Holding the suit out in front of her so she could se the logo, Seven asked, "Ghostbusters?" It was a movie back in the late 20th century," the Doctor explained, "Just put the suit on, this could get messy." "How will this help us?" asked Icheb. "With this," replied the Doctor, pulling out three bulky backpacks and giving one to each of them, "There is goo in this that I'm hoping will incapacitate the ghost without hurting it." "Then what?" asked Icheb, "The crew is still stuck inside." "The we're going to use this," explain the Doctor, pulling out something that seemed to be pulsing with energy, "hopefully we can use it to shock the ghost and confuse it long enough to get it to release the crew." "Hopefully isn't good enough," Seven pointed out, "the could come back and be vegetables for the rest of their lives." "Do you have a better idea?" asked the Doctor, "You heard Casper, they're being tortured in there." Then Casper came back and said, "He'll be here in a minute. His name is Yeti and don't bother trying to talk to him, there is some thing about him that makes it so that your universal translator won't work and you won't speak the same language." "Thank you Casper, you've been a great help," replied the Doctor, "Let me explain what we're going to do." Just as the Doctor got done Casper said, "Yeti make yourself seen." "Is it okay with you if we try this?" the Doctor asked. "You can go ahead," said Casper, "In fact, if this works, perhaps you would be willing to share this idea in more detail so we can rescue other people who have been taken before they are dead." Yeti then became visible, but he wasn't a pearly white like Casper, instead he was an unattractive green color. "You ready?" the Doctor asked. "Are you sure this won't hurt him?" questioned Icheb as they shouldered their packs. "Pretty sure," the Doctor replied, "Let's do this." All three of them started spraying their pink goo on Yeti. Yeti screamed in fear and then dropped to the ground as the goo enveloped him. The Doctor walked up to him with the device to shock him muttering, "Moment of truth. Mr. Yeti, this shouldn't hurt, or if it does only for a second." The Doctor bent over and touched the device to a part of Yeti that wasn't covered in goo.
The chime to the Captain's ready room rang. "Come in," called Janeway. Tom came rushing inside in hysterics. "The transmission went to static," he exclaimed. "Calm down, there's a lot that could go wrong with it," replied the Captain standing up and stepping to the front of her desk, "Let's see, she said that everything involved was external communications, the deflector, the warp core, external sensors, phasers. Oh my God…"
"That's strange," said B'Elanna concerning the fact that the transmission had gone to static. "B'Elanna," said Naomi, pulling at her sleeve, "is the warp core supposed to do that?" Following the little girl's gaze, B'Elanna was horrified to find that the antimatter inside the core was rushing around at an incredibly fast rate and plasma was spuming all around the base. Running forward to the core diagnostic console, B'Elanna started working furiously on it. "What's happening?" asked Naomi. "Remember when I told you about a warp core breech?" B'Elanna replied.
"… the warp core!" Janeway finished, "it's going to breech." "Not good," said Tom stating the obvious. "Nope," agreed the Captain, "Everybody's in the mess hall right?" "Yeah," Tom replied. "Go down there and tell them that they need to come up to deck one now, Captain's orders." "Yes Captain," replied Tom and he sprinted out. Janeway ran onto the bridge and started working on getting emergency forefields.
"Well we're going to have one," B'Elanna told Naomi. She smacked the console she was working on and said, "I can't reinforce the core, there's something wrong with the forcefields." "Is that bad?" Naomi asked. "Oh yeah," B'Elanna replied. "Why don't you just eject the core?" Naomi said. "There's nowhere to eject it to, this reality ends right on the other side of the ship," B'Elanna explained. "But my Mommy doesn't know were going to have a warp core breech," Naomi cried. "She might be far enough away to be alright, but we're not so we have to get out of here," B'Elanna exclaimed, "Everybody out! Vorik, lead us to the place that is farthest away from the warp core that you could get to. This is no time to dawdle people, we got to get out of here, now!"
Tom arrived at the mess hall out of breath. Struggling to get his wind back, he called, "People, the core is gong to breech, we've got to get as far away from it as we possibly can. Captain's orders, Let's go!" They arrived on deck one in a record two minutes. They crammed in the bridge, the captains ready room, and the corridor outside. "I can't get the forcefields online," the Captain called, "we might not survive so I'll tell you all now, you're the best crew a Captain could ever ask. We've seen through so much together that it seems a shame that this is the way that we go down. But we can't say we're not going out with style."
Everyone was sprinting through the corridor to get to the jefferies tube. "Is the warp core going to explode?" Naomi asked. "Yes, replied B'Elanna, "but save your breath for running so we can try to get away from it." "But won't it destroy the ship?" Naomi pointed out. "It will, but I'll explain when we get there, just run," B'Elanna said. When they could go no farther, B'Elanna tried to seal the hatch to no avail. "Amazing where a little adrenaline will get you," someone muttered as they all settled into two jefferies tubes and a vertical junction that all connected. "Everybody listen up," B'Elanna called, "I couldn't get the hatch to seal all the way, so we will not be protected from the breech. I can't tell you if we will survive this, but there are a few things I would like to you. You people never cease to amaze me. The way you have pulled together through this entire ordeal was wonderful. How you put aside your differences in rank and area of expertise so we could figure out how to contact the bridge only goes to show how great of a crew you are. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with you. As Tuvok would say, live long and prosper, although I can't guarantee that you'll be able to put that to much use." "Lieutenant," Tal Celes called from nearby. "Yes," B'Elanna replied. "In case I don't get the chance, I'd like to thank you for re-teaching me how to read the sensors. I don't know what it was about the way you taught me, but I think it really helped," said Celes. "No problem," B'Elanna replied, "When you only make it through two year at the academy you kind of have to teach yourself. I'm just glad I found a method that works for you." "B'Elanna," Naomi said from right next to her, "You said that we might survive, but the ship is going to be destroyed, how does that work?" "I was trying to avoid telling you this but here goes anyway. We're not actually here, only our souls are. The Captain say that a ghost captured us and is holding us within itself, so when the ship is destroyed we might be able to leave the ghost of we might be destroyed with it, we'll just have to wait and see." "So you mean we're real live dead things?" Naomi asked, trying to get it straight. "In a sense," B'Elanna replied, "we're alive, but disembodied."
So everyone on the ship waited, listening to the sound of the warp core get continually louder and higher until it was almost unbearable. The apprehension in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a knife, but no one said a word. B'Elanna reached over and got Naomi to sit on her lap, she then covered the little girl's ears and buried Naomi's head into her chest so she wouldn't be able to see the explosion.
The Doctor finished giving Yeti the shock and stepped back. Yeti's face screwed up and he turned purple. The room turned icy cold and Icheb couldn't help but whisper, "I see dead people." "They're not dead Icheb," the Doctor reminded him. All of a sudden Yeti let out a blood-curdling scream and turned the same pearly white color as Casper. "What just happened?" the Doctor asked.
Then, just as suddenly as the core had started to overload, it exploded and the ship disappeared from around them. They were all floating, not in space, but in what looked like the inside of a warehouse. Someone said, or rather, thought, "Look! There's the Doctor and Seven and Icheb. This must be the holodeck!" "What are they wearing?" someone asked. "Who care, they rescued us," someone else replied. Still another person thought, "Does anyone besides me feel like they're being pulled somewhere?" "Yeah," everyone agreed. Someone suggested, "Maybe we should follow it, perhaps we're being pulled to our bodies." "You're probably right," thought someone else who could only be Captain Janeway, "Go find your bodies everyone."
"Your friends have been set free," Casper replied. The Doctor started scanning all around them and observed, "They're starting to return to their bodies, I'd better go. Seven, do you know enough about what we used to explain it to Casper?" "Yes, I believe I do," Seven replied. "I'll be going then," said the Doctor. Tapping his combadge, he called, "Doctor to all hands, please remain where you are until I've had a chance to make sure that none of you have any ill effects from your little encounter."
"No argument here," muttered Tom from sickbay, "I didn't know that disembodiment came with such a bad headache." "It's nice to see you in person," said B'Elanna from on top of the biobed. Tom smiled and helped her sit up. "Ugh," she moaned, "you were right about those headaches." Looking up B'Elanna saw Naomi struggling to get up with her mom nowhere in sight. B'Elanna groaned and got to her feet. "Where are you going?" Tom asked. "To help Naomi," B'Elanna replied, "Why don't you go see how Harry's doing." "Hi," said B'Elanna upon reaching Naomi, "how are you?" "I'm okay I guess," Naomi replied, "Where's my mom?" "I'm not sure, she could be in her quarters or the mess hall or even a turbolift, but I'm sure she'll come as soon as the Doctor's taken a look at her," B'Elanna reassured her. Samantha did arrive a few minutes later and walked up to Naomi saying, "Hi sweetie. Sorry I wasn't here, I was in our quarters, but I was one of the first people the Doctor looked at. Are you okay?" "I'm fine," said Naomi, smiling, "I had a headache, but it went away." "I think we all did," Samantha replied. Taking B'Elanna aside Samantha said, "I can't thank you enough for taking care of her during all of this." "I was just happy to help," B'Elanna replied. "I'll let you go talk to your husband," Samantha said, "I'm sure he really wants to see you." "Thank you," B'Elanna said. Walking over to Tom and Harry, B'Elanna asked, "How ya doing, Starfleet?" "He'll be okay," Tom answered for him, "but the alien rattled him around a bit. The Doctor repaired most of the damage, but he'll have one heck of a headache for a while." "Hang in there, Harry," said B'Elanna, touching his shoulder, "the Doctor will be here soon."
The Doctor had just reached the Captain's Ready Room. "That was quick," said Janeway, "are you sure you didn't forget the mess hall?" "I got it," replied the Doctor as he started scanning the Captain with his tricorder. "Sickbay?" she asked. The Doctor clamped a hand to his forehead and muttered, "Oops." "Well, I'm glad to hear that you've got it all together," sighed the Captain. "You're the last person, I'll just go there next," replied the Doctor. "I want a full report on my desk by tomorrow," said Janeway. "Of course," the Doctor said, "What exactly happened that let you out?" "Oh, nothing big," replied Janeway, "just a warp core breech." "Sorry," the Doctor muttered. "At least you got us out," Janeway assured him, "now go to sickbay before they all just get up and leave."
The Doctor got to sickbay a minute later saying, "Sorry I took so long." There was a muttered reply from everyone that sounded something like, "Oh, no problem, take your time, we don't mind waiting here all day." The Doctor made his way through sickbay and released them all although Harry got a hypospray and a warning to take it easy for the next couple days. On the way out. B'Elanna was stopped by Naomi, who said, "I just wanted to thank you for helping me, and I was wondering if I could come visit you in engineering sometime." "You're very welcome and sure you can come visit me sometime," B'Elanna replied, "Although you might want to time it when we're not being attacked by the Borg or something else like that. Maybe next time it won't end with us running for our lives because of a warp core breech."
A few minutes later Samantha and Naomi reached their quarters. Naomi made a few finishing touches to her picture and then went into her room to get something. She came back a second later and handed her mom the picture. Samantha pretended to look surprised as she studied the picture. "Naomi, it's beautiful," she gasped, "is the rose supposed to he the rose up there?" "Yep," replied Naomi proudly, "What's the columbine for?" Samantha asked. "It's supposed to go with this," said Naomi, pulling a pressed and dried columbine from behind her back. Pulling Naomi into a hug Samantha said, "I'll put it right next to the rose." Breaking away from the hug Naomi settled back into her drawing seat on the floor. "What are you drawing now?" Samantha asked. "A card for B'Elanna," Naomi replied, and she set to work.
B'Elanna and Tom reached their quarters after what seemed like an eternity of wandering through the ship. Tom sighed and sat down on the couch, gesturing for B'Elanna to sit next to him. As soon as she sat down all the cooped up feelings from the day came spilling out as tears. Tears for a little girl who may never be able to know half of who she is but never gives up. Tears for her won short childhood. For the half of her that she pushed away and the other half that left. Tears for their own helpless situation, trying to get home. Tears that she tried to blink away but refused to subside. And Tom just pulled her onto his lap and held her. He let her cry until she couldn't cry anymore. Finally he asked, "You gonna be okay?" "Yes," B'Elanna replied, her voice shaky, "I'm sorry I got so emotional." "That's what I'm here for," said Tom, stroking her hair. "Thank you," B'Elanna sighed. The chime rang suddenly, causing them both to jump. Tom got up to get it, after the door opened he called, "I think it's for you." B'Elanna got up, rubbing at her cheeks but knowing that she would still look like she was crying. When she got to the door she found Samantha and Naomi there waiting for her. After taking a look at B'Elanna's face Naomi asked, "Are you okay?" "Yeah," B'Elanna sniffed, "It's just been a long day." "Well, I just wanted to give you this," said Naomi handing her a folded up piece of paper. Looking at it B'Elanna found that it was a card. On the front was Naomi's Flotter Doll, crying and rubbing its eyes. Above the picture were some words, so B'Elanna read them aloud, "When I was lost and lonely, not quite sure of what to do, I cried and cried and cried some more, until I looked up and saw you."
B'Elanna opened the card and read, "You showed me things I'd never seen before, and explained them in terms I could understand. You told me everything but still saved me from the truth. You united people that had never actually worked together and we reached a common goal. You taught everyone to forget their rank and just to be a team. You made me feel helpful even though I might have hindered. And I, a child, was not your lesser, but just someone who didn't understand, so you taught me. Any ideas that I had weren't immediately discounted, but thought over and one was even used. You told me when something would not work and I got smarter for the next time. You took responsibility for me, even when you were working and Chell taught me that song. Then the warp core overloaded and though I was still asking questions you simply told me to run. You answered my questions later, which might have saved my life. Even as the core exploded, you wouldn't let me see the blast. You taught me a lesson in honor, courage, and respect that I would not have learned otherwise. Words cannot express what it was like for me today, but you were there to help me all along the way." Below the words was a picture of Naomi hugging Flotter and Flotter smiling. "I, I don't know what to say," B'Elanna stammered, "Did you write this yourself?" Naomi nodded proudly. Setting the card on a table by the door so it remained open, B'Elanna said, "It will stay here so I can see it whenever I come inside." B'Elanna then dropped to her knees and pulled Naomi into her embrace. Pulling Naomi back so that she could see her face B'Elanna asked, "Are you going to be okay? After all that's happened I mean." "Yeah, Naomi replied. "Getting back up to her feet B'Elanna whispered to Samantha and Tom, "The poor kid's going to be in therapy until she's forty."
Yeah, I know that I don't know how to end a story, it's a curse. But other than that, what'd you think. Tell me! Please? Also, I really didn't mean to offend anybody with Casper's definition of what these ghost people do. If I messed with anybody's beliefs, religious or otherwise, I am truly sorry. Please forgive me. If it makes you feel better, it contradicts what I believe too, but I had to give them some kind of motive.