One More Round

Admiral Ross and his staff had been downright amazed by the accounts given by the group. Apart from the logs made by the crew, the children had made logs of their own and submitted those as well engineering logs, cargo and supply manifests, navigational logs, scientific data on planets in the Delta Quadrant and much more. Each of them had submitted their own personal logs, and delivered their own accounts of what had happened to them and their friends. Specialists from Starfleet's Command, Intelligence and Engineering divisions came to Starbase 375 in order to examine the Borg components on Voyager. The group had remained on Starbase 375 for almost a month as they recovered from their ordeal, spent time in the medical facilities and were debriefed on what had happened to them. After the first week, Naomi's father had arrived on the station and they had spent hours just talking while the former drones were given another examination. Naomi told her father all about what had happened since she was born, and that her mother had told her every night about him. He had taken as much time as he needed in order to get to know his daughter, and they went to one of the station's holodecks to play for hours in the Forest of Forever. Naomi was very happy to introduce Flotter and Trevis to her relative, and he in turn was surprised when they took him aside and told him of them times Samantha would bring Naomi down for a visit. Naomi also introduced him to her friends, and to his credit, Greskrendtregk only shuddered once or twice when he saw the Borg technology on their bodies. He saw them as victims rather then as the drones they once were. After the second week of being at the Starbase, there was the issue of Riker's Court Martial. Try as he might to excuse the incident, Picard had spoken with the officers and crew on the bridge of Voyager and seen the record one had made with his tricorder. Given the fact that Naomi held the rank of Captain, the charge of assaulting a superior officer was a matter straight for the JAG.

#

"This case on Stardate 51337.2 is to hear the charges against Commander William T Riker of the Starship Enterprise. The charges are #. How do you plead?" asked the JAG officer.

"Not guilty to some of the charges" said Riker's defender.

"Very well. Please present your evidence" replied the JAG.

"Exactly two weeks ago, Commander Riker was tasked with the boarding of the USS Voyager which had returned a month previous to that time from the Delta Quadrant. Skipping a few minor details, Miss Wildman was asked…"

"Objection" called the prosecution officer, a jovial man named Captain Bradford. "I believe that Naomi Wildman's rank of 'Captain' was confirmed by order of the President" and Naomi took a secret pleasure in watching a look of horror appear on Riker's face. He realised he could be demoted, demoted and jailed or demoted, jailed and then dismissed the service.

"Sustained" agreed the judge. "The defence shall refer to Naomi Wildman by her proper name and rank. Otherwise, I shall hold them in contempt of court" and the defence attorney apologised to Naomi before continuing his case.

"Facts were not made clear to my client before he touched Captain Wildman, otherwise he would have been more respectful. Standing orders are that children are not to be permitted on the bridge of an active duty starship – without an escort of course" added the man. The defence and prosecution traded blows for almost the full day, before the trial was adjourned for three hours so the JAG could decide upon a verdict.

#

"Children, your dinner is ready" Greskrendtregk called out. Naomi and the group raced to the dining table in the quarters they had been given on the Starbase. It never ceased to amaze the Katarian that they rushed to eat dinner. Although they had assured him they had eaten mostly well on Voyager it had mainly been either replicated stuff or lately the emergency rations they had stockpiled. It had been decided by psycologists to keep the group together, or at least it was the decision after Naomi locked the chief shrink in his office playing music by a pair of terrible 21st Centaury singers named Jedward.

"Thanks, Dad" Naomi said as she sat at the dinner table. It was only recently that they could eat more normal foods as the medical personnel had given them all a diet to follow in order to get their weight back up to normal. The Doctor had provided them with the needed data to make a baseline for the former drones. He was assisting in making the secondary sickbay functional again so they had something for the ferry trip to wherever they were to go.

"I got a message from Admiral Ross" her father spoke. "He would like to see you and your friends in his office sometime tomorrow morning" and Naomi nodded as she ate a mouthful of chicken kiev.

"Did he mention why, Sir?" asked Icheb. He had some trouble calling Naomi's father by his name.

"I believe he mentioned something about awarding you all medals" Greskrendtregk said. "It seems that you did something of great importance…" he added dryly. All of their faces lit up like a sun, and the rest of the meal passed enjoyably as they chatted about what they would do that evening. The twins would be regenerating in their alcoves brought over from Voyager, Naomi would be spending time with her father whilst Icheb had a subspace meeting with Starfleet Academy to discuss his entry for that year's class. Mezoti was going to use one of the station's holodecks and make sure that her hormone drive had settled back down to a normal level. Naomi's father had been slightly repulsed by the revelation at first, but he had managed to beat it down so it no longer bothered him. He had been brought up by rather strict parents to believe in a relationship being male and female only. They had been so disappointed in his decision to marry Samantha Wildman that they had not attended the wedding. Two hours later, and the computer relayed a message for Naomi to go see the JAG officer.

#

"So what are you proposing?" asked Naomi to Picard. He was trying to get a bargain for his First Officer, but it was tough doing from the looks of it.

"Commander Riker is an exceptional officer, and I do know that he is sorry about what happened. He would like to apologise to you in private, and accepts he will not be getting any shore leave for the next six months" Picard said.

"So he breaks my bracelet, grabs and hurts me and gets a slap on the wrist?" Naomi raised an eyebrow like she had seen Seven often do. "I am afraid that is not good enough. He assaulted a superior officer, and he should be punished for it" and the JAG officer and Picard tried to reason with her.

"What would you suggest?" asked the judge. "We need all the officers we can get" he added.

"Well I'd put him in the brig for a whole year, but you are right about him being needed. I want an apology from him in public – written and verbal – him to be placed on report for six months, and put him in the stocks" Naomi finished with a dangerous grin.

"You mean the stockade?" questioned Picard.

"Captain, are you familiar with how they used to punish criminals in the old days on Earth?" Naomi asked. The JAG officer could see exactly what Naomi was thinking of, and he privately agreed with it. Picard was also thinking along the same lines.

"I do not believe that Admiral Ross will allow food to be wasted in such a manner" he said.

"Voyager still has some fruit and vegetables that were made uneatable by exposure to space. We put Commander Riker in the stocks, I throw the stuff at him and that is the end of matter" Naomi said. Both the other officers had the thought Naomi was planning something else, but she would have mentioned it if it was important.

"And there would be no placing Commander Riker into either a brig or the stockade?" asked the JAG.

"Nope" Naomi smiled sweetly.

"I shall pass this on to the Commander as soon as possible" Picard promised. They talked for a little while longer before they left to get ready for the announcement of the verdict.

#

"Commander Riker, you will stand please" said the JAG. Riker and his appointed defender rose to their feet. "Commander Riker, this court finds you guilty of all charges. However, Captain Wildman has accepted an attempted plea from your commanding officer, Captain Picard. You are hereby sentenced to be placed in the stocks and have rotten fruit and vegetables thrown at you for half an hour. You are also not allowed to eat deserts of any kind for one year starting today – baring such instances where it would offend negoatiations with new member worlds or at a reception of alliances" the judge looked at Riker directly. "Do you wish to challenge this ruling or punishment?" he asked.

"No, Sir" Riker said. "I do not" and the JAG ended the trial and had Riker escorted to the starbase's recreation facility where a stock had been created for the punishment. Riker was put in it and then had everything thrown at him. To be fair, Naomi reflected, he took the punishment well and he was let out with bits of tomatoes, bananas and leola root on his uniform.

"The punishment is complete" said Admiral Ross. He had been overseeing it as the most senior office on the station. Riker apologised to Naomi for what he had done, handed her a handwritten copy and started to walk away.

"Just one moment…" Naomi called out. Riker turned round to look back at her. "Mr Riker, your uniform is a disgrace. I have never seen such a mess in all my life on a Starfleet uniform. I am placing you on report and shall be contacting your CO about your appearance. Dismissed" and Naomi executed a perfect turn on her heel and walked to her quarters with her father alongside her holding hands.

#

The group got up early the next morning, ate a good breakfast and picked up a few PADDs before going to see Admiral Ross. Most of the senior officers from the ships around the station were in attendance for the ceremony, and Naomi squeezed her father's hand for some support.

"When we award medals it is for a good reason" Ross began. "They are for courage, duty, honour… Today it is both a duty and a privilege to award these medals to these children. After the death of the crew of the USS Voyager, these five grew up pretty quickly and made the decision to complete the ship's journey home. Along the way they faced multiple battles with both the Borg and the Norcadians, and they have acquitted themselves with distinction. Towards the end of the trip, Voyager was badly crippled and had almost a complete systems failure and yet they still engaged and destroyed a Jem'Hadar Battleship – something not easily done with a fully operational vessel. Even after taking damage from that, they managed to guide their crippled starship back to friendly lines where they finally got assistance and the help they needed" Ross took a number of medals and placed them on the tunics each of the group wore. "I hereby award you're the Christopher Pike Medal, the Legion of Honour, the Star Cross, Starfleet Decoration for Gallantry, Starfleet Medal of Honour, Starfleet Medal of Valour and many more…". Naomi wondered if she should have an SiF field installed on the tunic just to keep it together. After most had left the conference room, Admiral Ross sat down with Naomi and discussed what was going to happen. Because of popular opinion, it had been decided to turn Voyager into a museum and docked at Utopia Planetia. Because the amount of damage Voyager had, the ship would be taken back to Utopia Planetia and refitted to full operational status so she could undertake cruises of a few hours around the solar system and beyond. The ship would be flown back with a skeleton staff aboard, and in convoy with several hospital ships transporting wounded people back to Earth for treatment.

"Who will be in command?" asked Naomi.

"For practical reasons, Commander Willis will be in overall command, though you will be in nominal command of the fleet" Ross said. "From the reports I have received from the work crews of both the Enterprise and the starbase's own staff, you should be able to just about make warp 4 – warp 4.3 if you are lucky" and Naomi nodded as she took all this information in.

"I assume these ships are armed, Admiral" she said at last. "I happen to know that Voyager has no weapons at all, nor does she have any shields to speak of" and the man nodded.

"We have been able to rig up some deflectors for travel, and they will come back on the medical vessels. Because of the heavy damage aboard the ship, Voyager will only have 20 crew members plus yourself, your father and your friends. Most of these will be assigned to working Engineering for the passage, but the others are rated for bridge duty. I am sorry I could not get you more people, but the war is going badly and these people were tour expired anyway and supposed to be going on 30 Days Leave anyway" but Naomi showed the maturity beyond her years as she waved off the concerns.

"I am sure that we can manage, Sir" she told Ross. "We managed alright back in the Delta Quadrant, and I am sure that we can wing it all the way to Earth, Admiral" and once more Admiral Ross was amazed at the maturity beyond her supposed years and her detailed knowledge of the workings of a Starship.

"Very well, Captain" he said, and he handed her a hardcopy print out. "These are your formal orders to 'escort' a medical convoy to Earth. You are not to engage the enemy under any circumstances" he added.

"What if they decide to engage us?" Naomi looked up from the orders.

"Open a visual channel and pull faces at them whilst yelling at the top of your voice" Ross smiled. "Good luck, Captain" and he shook Naomi's hand before the young girl left his office to prepare to leave the Starbase.

#

"Naomi Wildman to Voyager" Naomi tapped her com badge.

"Voyager here"

"Six to beam aboard" and the quarters on the station dissolved into blue light and the group were transported to the waiting Voyager.

"Captain on the bridge" somebody called out, and everyone stood at attention at their stations on the bridge.

"As you were" Naomi said. "I assume we are l ready to leave?" she asked, and a Lieutenant Commander answered back.

"All crew are accounted for, Ma'am" she said. Naomi, her father and friends took the time to inspect the jury-rigged stations before seating themselves on the bridge.

"Engineering, this is the bridge"

"Engineering here" came the voice of a young sounding officer.

"We are about to get underway" said Naomi. "Have your department standing by for warp speed"

"Aye, Aye"

"All hands rig for departure. Departure stations" Naomi said, slipping into the role of Captain very easily once more. "Bring the internally metered pulse drive on, rig the Structural Integrity Field for transit, bring deflectors online and calibrate them for warp speed. Set course for Sector 001 at Warp 3.45. Ops, contact Starbase 375 and inform them we are leaving" and the officer at Ops confirmed the message was sent – the reply being 'Have a really ugly face ready, Ross' which drew smiles from the little family.

"Captain, the medical vessels Nightingale, Christine Chapel and Mokoto report they are ready to leave. Commander Willis is ready when you are" and Naomi gave the order for Voyager to head away from the station. The ship swung painfully round to port like a drunken fighter, and headed towards the Olympic class medical vessels. As it passed the rows of ships, each lit up their running and spotlights in salute. The battered ship returned the gesture before assuming formation with the medical ships and jumping to warp.

#

The Jem'Hadar vessels sat in waiting with all but life support and passive sensors powered down. They had information that a convoy was due to pass by in the next few days, and destroying the ships would cause a large dint in the forces.

#

"I was thinking of making one of your favourite meals" Greskrendtregk said to Naomi.

"Spaghetti Bolognaise?" Mezoti spoke before Naomi had a chance. The others laughed at how well they had fitted together, and thus able to guess correctly what they would say, do or eat.

"Indeed" said Naomi's father. "How did you guess?" he asked.

"Naomi has only ever eaten that on Tuesdays" Icheb said.

"I am sure that the repli…" Naomi's father was cut off by the ship shuddering violently.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Naomi. When she got positives from everybody, she tapped her combadge. "Naomi to the bridge. What is going on?"

"We have come under attack from a Jem'Hadar Battleship with several Attack Fighters covering it"

"Red Alert! Increase speed to Warp 4. I'm on my way to the bridge" and Naomi raced out the door to the turbolift to carry her one deck up. The Bridge was only manned by terrified Ensigns, and the former drones assumed the unused Ops, Tactical and Engineering stations. Naomi sat at science whilst Greskrendtregk gripped the auxiliary tactical console behind the command chairs.

"Fighters are coming in for another pass on the medical ships" said one of the Ensigns.

"They do not have adequate shields to withstand such a sustained attack, and their weapon systems are also not enough" said Icheb.

"Bridge to Engineering. Do we have any power to the weapons at all?"

"We can warm up the phaser banks, but we can't charge them. We can activate the torpedo launchers, but there is nothing to shoot with" said a voice.

"Just get a little bit of power through them so it looks as if we are armed" Naomi said. "Helm, be ready to come out of warp and start combat manourvres. Tactical, get a weapon lock on those ships. We know we can't shoot, but they will assume we can. Get me Commander Willis"

"On screen2 said Mezoti.

"Captain Wildman, we can not take much more of this" he said.

"I know" Naomi replied. "Push your engines to the limits. We're going to buy you some time to escape" and Willis's eyes shot wide open.

"But you will be destroyed" he said.

"Perhaps" Naomi admitted, "But at least we will give you time to get as far away as possible, Wildman out" and the man's image vanished to be replaced with the approaching ships. "Broadcast a general distress call and a plea for help. Say that we under attack by enemy ships" but the officer at Ops shook his head.

"We're being jammed on everything but short range" and Naomi sighed.

"Bring the ship about, target the Battleship and make a pass as close as you dare. Icheb, re-route all available power to the forward and ventral shields" Naomi issued the orders like a seasoned commander. She used the working sensors to take semi-decent scans of the Battleship and tried to look for a weak spot in the hull.

"Naomi, I have found a possible weak spot in the hull" Azan said, and he brought up the picture of the Battleship on the main screen. At the same time as that, Voyager shuddered as the weapons of the Jem'Hadar came to bear. The bridge sparked and arcs of electricity shot fro one side to the other.

"Don't keep it to yourself" said the Ensign as she clutched to the helm.

"It is possible that we might be able to transport one of our anti-matter pods to the hull of the Battleship and detonate it. The resultant explosion should be enough to disable them at the very least if it does not destroy them" Azan explained.

"But that will blow us up as well" the Ensign said. "What good will that do us?" he asked.

"We could modify the main deflector to emit a series of highly charged polaron beams" Icheb said. "We would only get two or perhaps three shots before the deflector is burned out however" he added.

"I'll take those shots – get started" Naomi said. "Bridge to the Doctor"

"Doctor here" the reassuring voice of the EMH sounded over the shattered comm.

"I need you to get down to the Anti-Matter pods and disconnect one from the feeds. We're going to shove one overboard and blow these sons of bitches to hell" Naomi said. Greskrendtregk heard the words but said nothing at her choice of language.

"Understood. EMH, out"

"Deflectors down to almost nothing" reported the Lieutenant at Ops.

"Icheb…? I could really do with those shots right about now" Naomi called.

"I need another three minutes"

"In three minutes we might all be dead" Naomi's father noted.

"I shall endeavour to be quicker" replied the Brunali.

"Ensign, bring us about and put us on a direct course for the Battleship"

"Engineering to Bridge"

"This is the bridge" Mezoti took the call.

"We can't take many more hits before we suffer a complete systems and hardware failure" said the same officer who had greeted Naomi upon beaming over from Starbase 375.

"Is that bad?" asked Mezoti.

"Very – we'd be dead" noted the engineer. "We've got word from the EMH that he has disconnected Pod 3" she added.

"Understood" Naomi said, and tapped her console. "Beam the pod to this area now" and on the viewscreen a large object – the pod – appeared next to the hull of the Jem'Hadar vessel.

"I have modified the deflector" Icheb announced.

"Target the pod and fire" Naomi ordered. "Helm, gets us away from here" and Voyager swung round with a painful and deep seated moan as Icheb fired the improvised weapon. The beam hit the pod and it exploded as predicted. The ship was shaken violently as it took the Battleship and several Fighters with it, and everyone was thrown from their positions all over the ship. All the working consoles flickered on and off as they overloaded, temporary repairs failed and the ship spun slowly on its end.

"Damage report!" Rebi shouted out.

"Impulse and warp are offline, deflectors are down, attitude control has failed, we have multiple hull breaches, sensors have failed and jammed in passive mode, life support is holding steady for the moment, main computer is offline, main power is offline… the list is endless" said the Lieutenant at Ops.

"Do we have anything that works?" Naomi asked, blood pouring from a wound in her head.

"Internal communications, and that is just about it" said the officer.

"EMH to the bridge" the Doctor's voice sounded scratchy and broken up because of the amount of damage.

"Go ahead"

"Miss Wildman, some debris punctured one of our radiation sinks. We have a level one radiation leak. Engineering is heavily contaminated and radiation is moving forward" the Doctor, Naomi assumed, must have been on his mobile emitter at the time of the final explosion.

"Give people injections" said Naomi.

"You don't understand" said the hologram. "Giving people injections simply won't do. Every surface of the ship is contaminated. We've got to get everybody off the ship. I recommend that we abandon ship" the Doctor added in a regretful tone. Everybody on the bridge was silent as they took in the implication of that comment.

"Understood, Doctor" Naomi said quietly. "Treat everybody with Anti-Radiation meds" and Naomi heard the Doctor confirm that request before she begged the computer to switch to a ship wide frequency. "All hands, this is the Captain. Abandon Ship, Abandon Ship! This is not a drill. See the EMH for Anti-Radiation hyposprays and then get to the lifepods. All hands, Abandon Ship!" and she closed the channel. She stood shakily as her father put a bandage around her head to stop the bleeding. "You've done well enough, now get to the escape pods" she said, and the two Starfleet crew nodded and left via the Jefferies tubes. With main power being offline, they could not use the turbolifts to drop down one deck.

"You are not to blame for this" Greskrendtregk said to Naomi as tears ran down her face.

"I know" the girl wept, "But it isn't fair at all… I feel as if I have failed Captain Janeway" and her father hugged the girl as he knew she needed to be hugged.

"We should activate the Auto-Destruct and leave" said Mezoti.

"I guess you're right" Naomi sniffed and wiped her eyes and nose. "Computer, this is Captain Naomi Wildman. Activate Auto Destruct, authorisation Flotter T Water III"

"Computer, this is Icheb, first officer. Confirming Auto Destruct, authorisation Uniform Victor Bravo Seven Six" Icheb spoke clearly, but everyone could tell he too was torn over the loss of the ship they had worked so hard to get back.

"Oreto destrukt eeeese orfline" the computer said.

"Chemise Rouge to the bridge"

"Bridge here"

"Escape pod ejection systems are frozen. We can't get off the ship"

"That might not be such of a problem" Icheb said, and he pointed the sensors. "We have incoming vessels closing fast" moments later, columns of red light appeared on the bridge, and a dozen Klingons stood with weapons drawn and looking for danger.

"What is going on?" asked the leader. He was dressed in the normal Klingon armour, but was also adorned with a cloak and several impressive looking medals.

"General Martok" Naomi said.

"Have we met child?" asked the Klingon.

"No, Sir. However this ships is filling with radiation, and we need to get off as quickly as possible" and Martok could understand well the danger of radiation killing an entire crew.

"Very well… The survivors may beam over to the Rotarran for the time being" Martok snapped orders off to his crew – most of whom beamed back off. "I seem to know you, child" he said.

"My name is Naomi Wildman, General" said Naomi. "Me and my friends came back from the Delta Quadrant in the Voyager – we were on our way home" and the Klingon nodded as he remembered.

"Ah… I remember now, little one. I heard the stories but I did not believe it until now" and he gave a short laugh. "You are most welcome aboard my ship" Martok added. The others came off quickly, and then Naomi, Greskrendtregk and Martok left the ship together – the last ones off the crippled and battered ship. The entire crew was treated for radiation sickness by the EMH – whom also treated the Klingons for a few problems here and there – and then were given quarters to sleep off the sedatives they needed. They had to share with about eight persons to each quarters, but it was better then being dead. Whilst they all slept, Martok alerted Starbase 177 to what had happened and had his crew run every scan they had other the ship for a complete assessment as to its capacity to move. The squadron he was commanding, made up of Birds of Preys, took up a defensive position around the shattered hulk of Voyager. None of the Klingons questioned the orders as they understood that this ship was one of the most honoured and distinguished in the Federation fleet. The fact that five children and a hologram had brought their ship back to Federation space was the stuff of Klingon legends and songs would be sung in Sto-Vo-Kor about their deeds. The Klingons would ensure that it would get back to Utopia Planetia shipyards even if they had to get out and push.

A/N:

What…? You didn't think I was going to let them get away with it that easily did you? Well rest assured that this is Voyager's final battle… one way or another, she will not fight again. Suffice to say, the battles have taken their toll on the old girl…

One more chapter left in this, and then that is, as they say – it! BUT I am going to make you wait for it as I'm hopping back to my Harry Potter/Worst Witch and BSG stories.

I hope you will all enjoy them

Regards

Robert