Chapter 5

2376 - Voyager - Deck 5 - Sickbay

Back in sickbay, Rachel took command again.

"I assume that you all know what to do?" All she relieved were blank stares. She sighed. "As long as the Voyager crew thinks we're the culprits, the person who is guilty of knocking out Tom, B'Elanna, and Harry will think he's safe. Which means he will let down his guard long enough for us to find out who he is."

"Or she," Taylor interrupted.

"Or she," Rachel agreed.

It was starting to dawn on them what Rachel was talking about, but they waited for her to finish.

"We have one mission here people!" she snapped, sticking a finger in the air for emphasis, "We have to catch the culprit while eluding the Voyager security."

"Oh boy," Rhanda sighed.

"Well," Taylor said, attempting to lighten the mood, "Let's hope the culprit decides to knock out Tuvok next."

She was rewarded with stiff smiles all around accompanied by worried looks.

"Come on," Rachel said, heading for the door, "Let's go."

"Um. . .go where?" Rhanda said, looking worried. Rachel stared at her for a moment.

"Good point." She spun around to face the others. "Where are we going? We can't stay here," she added, frowning.

"Sickbay can be our base," Charlie said.

"Good idea, Doc. I mean. . . Charlie," she corrected quickly, and with a nervous glance toward the Doctor, she continued, "But we still don't know where we're going.

There was silence.

"I got it!" Meredith blurted suddenly. They all looked at her in surprise. She lowered her voice. "I have an idea! We can knock out. . ."

"Are you insane?" Taylor interrupted, "We can't knock out anyone! Haven't you been listening? That's what got us into this mess!"

"I'm not talking about knocking out a person!" Meredith said, glaring furiously at Taylor.

Taylor opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by the Doctor.

"Please!" he said exasperatedly, in a hushed voice, "Don't argue! And keep your voices down. The walls aren't soundproof you know!"

"The Doctors right," Rachel agreed, "Stop arguing. Meredith - your idea?"

"Okay. I thought that we could sabotage . . .," she said, looking pointedly at Taylor, ". . . the com system. If someone sees us, they won't be able to warn security."

A grin spread across Rachel's face. "Brilliant!" she gasped, "Absolutely. . ."

"Wonderful," Taylor said through clenched teeth.

Meredith, however, looked pleased at the attention.

"You'll definitely need help with that, though," Naomi offered.

The Doctor smiled, "I'll get the mobile emitter and we can leave."

Rachel's smile faltered.

"Doctor," she said, making him turn around, "It would be better if you stayed here."

"What?!" the Doctor objected, surprised and hurt, "but I can help you!"

"You can help more here! If you can revive Tom, Harry, or B'Elanna, they might be able to tell you who it was," she pointed out.

"I'll go," Naomi said, "My mom's an Ensign, I think I can figure out how to disable a com system."

The Doctor sighed but nodded. Then he frowned.

"If you confront Captain Janeway, I'm sure she would believe that you're innocent," he assured them.

Rachel's head snapped up to look at him. "No," she said firmly, "Even if they do believe us, they still wouldn't trust us. We want to earn their trust, and there's only one way to do that. We need to find the real culprit to clear our names."

"We want to be important for once," Naomi added.

"We want to help!" Rhanda finished.

The Doctor looked at their determined faces and sighed again, "Very well, but you'll definitely need some adult help. Luckily for you, I'm used to drastic situations. I could probably take out the com system in a matter of seconds."

"Nice try, Doctor," Taylor said, smiling, "But you're still staying."

"Come on!" Meredith said, while the Doctor looked miffed, "Let's go."

The girls hurried out of sickbay, Naomi in the lead. They half ran, half tiptoed down the corridor, stopping to peek cautiously around the corner. Luckily, they saw no one on the way to deck six, although they all jumped when the red alert sounded.

"Oh no," Rachel said, worriedly, "They must be taking action now. We have to hurry, or we'll never make it back to sickbay!"

Suddenly, Naomi stopped. Meredith, who was directly behind her, bumped into her.

"Ooof. . .Why'd you stop, Naomi?" she said, annoyed.

"We're here," Naomi replied vaguely.

The girls looked around. Finally, Rhanda spoke up.

"I don't see anything. Where's the control panel?"

In response, Naomi knelt down and removed a panel from the wall. Rhanda's eyes widened in surprise and she said, "OH!"

Then, in one quick movement, she knelt down next to Naomi and stared, enchanted at the bio-neural circuitry that pierced the inside of the wall. Taylor sighed.

"Move," she ordered. Everyone looked at her in surprise. She sighed again. "I'll show you how to knock out a system," she muttered grimly.

Rhanda and Naomi recognized danger and scrambled away from the opening. When Taylor was sure everyone was out of the way, she drew back her booted foot and slammed the sole of her shoe into the controls. The other girls watched in amazement as sparks flew out of the opening. Taylor threw her arms up to protect her face. Then it was over. The girls were left staring at the place where Taylor had kicked in awe.

The consol was blackened and still sparking intermittently. The gel pack had burst open and it's blue liquid splashed the floor and controls.

The girls looked, open mouthed, up at Taylor. She smirked, looking pleased with herself. Then suddenly, her expression changed as she stared over the other girls heads.

"Um. . . guys?" she muttered, her words almost incoherent.

Five sets of eyes widened as the other girls turned to see what she was looking at. Charlie took an involuntary step backward. Rhanda gasped. Meredith gulped. Rachel breathed, "Oh, no."

There, at the end of the corridor, seven faces glared furiously at them. Six security guards stood at attention, tall and threatening. . . and they were a accompanied by the most enraged Talaxian face any of them had ever seen.

"Neelix!" Naomi squeaked, shocked.

"Naomi!" her godfather shouted back at the top of his voice, "Don't worry! We're coming to get you!"

The six security guards pulled out hand phasers and pointed them in the direction of the girls, slowly moving forward. Their movements easily conveyed their message - don't do anything stupid. Rachel, Rhanda, and Taylor tensed. Naomi glanced at them, noticing their uneasiness.

"Don't worry," she assured them, "The phasers won't work from this distance."

"Right, which is why the guards are moving forward!" Rachel answered sarcastically. Suddenly, she frowned, thinking. Then her face registered comprehension.

"Naomi . . . I think that Neelix thinks we like, kidnapped you or something!" she said hastily, as the guards carefully advanced. They saw Neelix touch his chest.

"Neelix to bridge."

There was no response.

"Yes!" Charlie muttered softly, so Neelix and the guards couldn't hear, "It worked! Taylor, you're a genius!"

"Why, thank you. . .thank you very much," Taylor quoted. Then she switched back to her own voice, "but, let's save the compliments for later, shall we? Right now, there happen to be six security guards closing in on us!"

"What do we do?!" Naomi wailed.

"I have an idea!" Rachel spoke up quickly.

Everyone looked at her.

"What?" Rhanda asked, although she thought she already knew the answer.

There was a pause, then Rachel shouted the one word they had all been waiting for.

"RUN!!"

And with that, the girls turned around, and took off down the corridor, Neelix and the security guards in hot pursuit.

x

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Star Trek or Star Trek. I don't even own any rights to this story because it was written by my friend. She now wishes I get credit to her with her pen name, Rachel Pierce. It was written about our little Trekkie group, The Sisterhood of Teenage Trekkies. Though there have been changes to respect rights of my friends and myself. I have been given permission to post this story. Thank you and enjoy.