CHAPTER 9 – Captain's Instincts

Naomi had never been so nervous in her entire life walking to the briefing room that afternoon. She felt just like Chell when he was more green than blue. But the safety of the people she loved quite possibly depended on the data she had collected. So she took a deep breath and went in.

Everyone watched as the little girl with blonde, braided hair entered. Tom Paris stood to offer her his seat which she accepted with a quiet 'thank you'. Naomi took a breath and then began at the beginning.

"Ensign Swinn gave me a tricorder. And I used it to scan the hallways. I wasn't looking for anything really, but a few days ago I found a spot with a gel pack behind it." She didn't think it was necessary to explain that she had also pulled off a panel and examined it personally, at three o'clock in the morning.

"Then I went on a scavenger hunt. To find all of the others. It took me three days but I found 54 of them."

"Impressive," Tuvok commented. Captain Janeway and the others were still watching her attentively.

"Go on," Janeway directed.

"I downloaded the data into my computer and I noticed that the gel packs I scanned today are bigger than the ones I scanned yesterday. And the first one, from three days ago, has grown 1.2%. I think they're going to burst."

B'Elanna was now out of her seat and headed for the girl. She took the tricorder and stood in front of one of the briefing room computers. In a minute, the chart that had taken Naomi over an hour to produce was in front of them. Naomi felt the tension level in the room rise.

B'Elanna spun and wordlessly locked eyes with the Captain. The rest of the meeting went by in a blur. The chief engineer and Harry Kim left in a full sprint, contacting others in engineering as they went. Tom was directed to the helm, something about moving them far away from the gravitational pull of the planet. Janeway, Seven and Tuvok went quickly behind him. Only Chakotay remained.

"Nice work," he said patting her on the back. "Let me walk you back to your quarters now."

Naomi spent the rest of the day on her bed, thumbing through her gilded fairy-tale book. She was trying not to think of the scurry of activity that was likely going on outside. She kept waiting for the lights to flicker or the red-alert klaxons to sound, but they never did. After a time, she laid her head down on her pillow and closed her eyes. She was very, very tired.

When she awoke several hours later, Naomi heard the sound of voices in the living area. She stumbled in to see Seven talking with her mother.

"Naomi Wildman," Seven greeted her.

"Hi Seven," she replied. "Is the ship okay?"

"Indeed. Thanks to your perceptiveness we will be fine. Had the gel packs failed while in an already precarious orbit, Voyager would have been in grave danger. Also the packs are critical to ships operation. Without them we would have been permanently, I believe the term is, 'dead in the water.'"

Naomi sighed.

Seven turned to Ensign Wildman. "I have come to get your mother. Her assistance is needed in accessing the lifeform which had infiltrated the gel packs."

"Life form?" Naomi asked, curiously.

The ensign spoke up. "There was an organism growing in the bio-gel. B'Elanna and the others transported non-native cells out of every pack on the ship. They're maturing in tanks in the lab. I have to go now, but I'll be back to tell you everything I find out later." Her mother came over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Good job, sweetheart," she said.

Naomi enjoyed watching 'her' life forms grow during the next month. Though she never did understand exactly how they had gotten into the packs in the first place. She figured it didn't really matter. Strange things seemed to happen here on a regular basis and this was no different.

For a while she had monitored their growth under a microscope but they quickly turned from clusters of cells to tadpole-like creatures with four eyes and slimy fur. Around that time, Seven had informed the captain that a suitable planet had been found. They were now en route.

Naomi went to her mother's lab one last time to say goodbye to the tank of hundreds of little swimming creatures. She was alone, chatting with them as she had done in the past days. She had given most of them names, though she couldn't exactly tell which was which. They moved awfully fast for accurate identification. The girls were a little bit darker blue than the boys she had learned. And no, she wasn't allowed to keep even one as a pet.

The doors opened behind her and Commander Chakotay entered. "We're almost at the planet, Naomi," he said coming over to her. "Captain Janeway thought you might want to see their new home from the bridge."

Naomi smiled, waved goodbye to her little friends and left with her command-level escort. They rode silently in the turbolift. Just before the doors opened, Chakotay spoke nonchalantly. "Oh, and Kathryn thought you might like to do the honors."

Naomi never got a chance to ask what he meant. She was greeted with a sight that made her eyes widen with surprise. She stepped out cautiously, unsure what exactly was going on.

"Acting Captain on the Bridge," she heard Tuvok say. Commander Chakotay stood several paces behind her as she walked in. She stopped after a few steps to survey her surroundings. There were a lot of people on the bridge. Most of them were crowded around the upper deck and some on the lower ramp. Every single one stood at attention.

She regarded them all and saw the proud faces of the people who had gotten her this far. Biddle, Ashmore, Natalie, Danny Hey….Maria, Leslie, Pete and Chell; Mike Ayala and Megan Delaney. Doug Bronowski, even Baytart – who, upon seeing her, broke attention to take a big loud bite of a red apple. At this, she let out a giggle.

Her mother turned to her from the science station and gave a wink. Seven and the doctor both nodded their approvals with a smile. She got a thumbs up from B'Elanna. And Neelix….well, Neelix looked like he might simply burst. On the viewscreen, now becoming visible was the planet that her little lifeforms would soon call home.

She felt the commander come up close behind her. "Your seat is down there, Captain," he directed quietly. She could tell without looking that there were a couple of dimples behind his words.

The newly-minted commanding officer nodded and swallowed and addressed everyone. "As you were." The officers returned to their duty stations while the extra guests patted her on the back and congratulated her as they departed the bridge. She walked down the ramp to "her" chair. From the doorway to the ready room, Captain Janeway gave an approving smile.

Chakotay took the seat next to his child-captain and tapped some commands into the console between them. Then he leaned over to address her again quietly. "Tell Mr. Paris to put us in orbit."

Naomi's uncontrollable grin got even bigger. "Helm, put us in orbit," she ordered. "Please." From the corner, the real captain let out a chuckle.

"Yes ma'am," Tom replied, then did as she ordered.

For a few moments Naomi Wildman's trading experience had given her not just Voyager, but a whole planet.