Characters: Naomi/Neelix/Tom, Genre: Suspense, Rating: K+

Dangerous Fireworks

Naomi Wildman placed both hands under her chin with her elbows on the dashboard and stared into the video of her mother with a sullen expression. Her, Neelix and Tom had just entered a nebula that looked like a jumble of mass spider webs, interconnected by bright and colourful bulbs of energy.

"I'm sorry I can't be there with you to watch those bright lights honey." Her mother gave a regretful smile.

"It's okay mom, I know how important your first contact mission is." She grinned. "Don't worry, Neelix will take plenty of holophotos. We'll show them to you when you get back."

Neelix poked his head over Naomi's shoulder. "I dunno Sam. You're going to be missing quite a spectacular show." His voice had a teasing gravity.

She sighed. "Have fun you guys. Happy birthday sweetheart." She blew a kiss into the screen.

"Bye mom."

"So, how did you say these fireworks were supposed to start?" Tom asked as he reduced the Delta Flyer's speed to a slow hover.

Neelix shuffled to his side. "Well, if I recall correctly ..." With a hairy finger, he started entering parameters into the weapon systems. "You just need to fire a recalibrated torpedo at one of the interconnecting nodes and ..." He smiled and got ready to dramatically press the launch button.

Tom blocked his finger. "Hold on. You're sure this is safe?"

"Bah!" He waved a hand at him. "I've done this plenty of times."

Tom hardly looked convinced.

"How about we target that smaller group of lights over there." Naomi pointed out the starboard window that revealed a network of half a dozen isolated nodes. "Better to test if you aren't sure mom always said."

"I'm with her," Tom made a thumbing motion at Naomi.

Neelix rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. But don't blame me if the excitement is ruined." He changed the targeting coordinates, looked at Tom and Naomi with a suspenseful expression and launched the torpedo. It struck one of the nodes and there was a blinding flash of green light, expelling hundreds of small lightning bolts in an exhilarating display that made Naomi's mouth drop. In a chain reaction, the next node exploded but this time in a bright flash of red light. The next node to explode was a vibrant purple. Neelix was hooting and hollering as he rapidly took snapshots with his holocamera. Tom was looking on with an appreciative grin.

Something hit the flyer hard, shaking the bulk heads with a disorienting vibration. Neelix lost his footing and fell backwards to the floor. Tom's head went sideways and knocked into the side of the dashboard. Naomi was shaken, but remained unharmed in her seat. "Tom!" she yelled.

Neelix had gotten back to his feet and was looking frantically out the windows. "What happened?" His voice was shrill.

Tom managed to sit back up in his seat. A stream of blood ran down from the side of his forehead, something Naomi was shocked to see as her eyes widened.

"Is it the nebula?" Neelix asked Tom.

"No." Another strike to the hull shook the ship. "It's weapons fire." His voice was strained. There were many beeps and alerts sounding inside the ship. "We're being hailed."

An alien humanoid appeared on screen. He had similar features to a human accept the ends of his ears were a lot longer, stretching down to the bottom of his jaw. He appeared young, around fifteen years of age by human standards. His voice sounded angry. "Unknown vessel. You have committed a crime firing on our plexus. You will be destroyed." There was no mistaking the seriousness in his words.

"Now hold on just a minute!" Tom said but the transmission was cut off before he could say anything more. There was a surge of electricity that sounded from the console.

"Tom! Get away from there!" Neelix went to pull him away from the shoulders but he was too late. Bright sparks of electricity exploding from the dashboard striking Tom's face and body. He fell sideways in his seat unconscious. Severe burns had lacerated his face. Naomi jumped from her seat and tried to pull Tom down and away from the controls. Neelix assisted her as the ship shook and sparks sprayed from all systems.

Neelix reached for the console. "Delta Flyer to Voyager! We're-" Another volley to the hull shook them. "We're under attack! We need assistance!"

Harry's voice came through the com. "Voyager to Delta Flyer. Hang in there Neelix, we're on our way."

"Shields at ... thirty percent. Our warp engines are offline." Noami said looking at the sensor readings.

"Computer! Target the attacking vessel's weapon systems with a torpedo and fire!" Neelix yelled.

"Unable to comply. Auto-targeting is offline."

Naomi was standing very straight with her arms stiff at either side. She was staring at Neelix with a frozen and unsettling expression. "Neelix," she murmured.

"Don't worry," Neelix said with a smile. "We're going to get out of this." He sounded as if the situation wasn't as serious as it looked, but Naomi knew better.

"Warning anti-matter containment failing. Warp core breach imminent."

"Computer. Divert all available power to anti-matter containment." Neelix turned to Naomi and on his knees held her by both shoulders. "Naomi. I know you are very scared but I need you to do something for me." Her eyes were wide, her lips a thin line. "I need you to take the helm while I manually target the enemy ship."

"But-"

"Naomi Wildman," he said in a parental tone that was oddly comforting at the moment. "You've taken lessons with Tom before. I know you can do this."

She made three short nods and quickly ran to the seat at the helm. As she sat down she was immediately overwhelmed by all the buttons and sensor data that was displayed before her. Suddenly, everything Tom had taught her during their pilot lessons was a complete blank. She nervously looked back at Neelix who was at tactical. The hull hummed with energy as the flyer's lasers sent four consecutive volleys at the enemy vessel. Three of them missed by meters and one grazed its shielding with minimal effect.

"Good thing Tuvok isn't here to witness my tactical abilities," Neelix mumbled to himself.

Naomi looked back at the controls and took a deep breath. "You can do this," she whispered to herself. "Be one with the ship. You are the ship," she repeated Tom's words. She pressed one button, and then another. The blank memories were coming back quickly, although nerves were shaking her entire body. Another strike to the Delta Flyer felt like it penetrated through the shields. She finally set a course out of the nebula, and the flyer started to move. As she took a large breath, a large energy node came into view and Naomi stared at it for a moment. The recent memory of seeing nodes exploding into vibrant energy particles raced through her mind. Suddenly, an idea struck her. She didn't know if it would work, but she was always taught to explore all possible solutions when encountered with a problem. "Neelix! Maybe we could use those energy nodes to somehow disable the other ship."

Neelix paused for a moment in thought, and then his eyes widened. "We could lure him in the path of one of them, then destabilize the node and send an electric surge through his ship!"

Naomi made a gratified smile and adjusted the ship heading. The enemy ship was tailing them by a thousand meters as the Delta Flyer flew past the bright blue node.

"A little further," Neelix said in anticipation. After a few more seconds Neelix launched a torpedo. A humongous flash of light engulfed the flyer sending vibrations through the hull. Both had to shield their eyes. The light soon faded, and Naomi looked at the console.

"The ship has been disabled." She beamed at Neelix and he replied with a firm nod.

Beeping came from the console. Neelix activated the com, and Harry appeared on the screen.

"Neelix," Harry said as he scanned the inside of the flyer. "Is everyone alright?" It was clear by the tone of his voice he was aware of the disabled ship floating in the distance.

"Tom was hit by an electrical feedback surge, he needs to get to sickbay right away," Neelix said.

Naomi was bent over Tom with her hands tightly nestled in her lap. She gazed at the redness and burnt marks on his face as if it was her doing. "Will he be alright?" As she spoke, his body started materializing into blue particles.

Neelix smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he'll be fine. Thanks to you, we made it out in one piece."

Naomi looked to the ground and gave a weak smile. She knew Neelix was just being nice. But the truth was, it could have easily been her or even Neelix who got hit by that energy blast. The sad thought seemed to gnaw at her mind. Contact with alien races was a dangerous thing, whether by intention or mistake. She was now aware of that reality.