Mars Station
Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards
U.S.S. James T. Kirk

"Joe, what are you doing to your sister's replicator?" Captain Tom Paris asked suddenly. The women stopped their conversation and turned to see what was going on. Sure enough, Joe was standing by the replicator, appearing to be programming something into it.

"I'm just making sure it's equipped with Abbey's favorite recipes," he replied indignantly. "I don't want my sister to be wandering through space without banana pancakes handy."

Abbey made a face; banana pancakes were his favorite, she couldn't stand them. "What's this?" she asked, opening the box her father brought with him.

"Just some things I thought would make your quarters feel more like home," Tom replied. She pulled out a movable hula-dancing doll and arched an eyebrow quizzically.

"Or stuff you can recycle as soon as your father leaves," B'Elanna added.

Abbey pulled out the next item and felt her throat constrict. "Thanks, Dad," she managed. It was a framed photograph from the Voyager reunion seven years before, a picture which represented happier times. With the exception of Professors Tuvok and Seven of Nine, everyone was smiling, unaware that in three years time, their lives would change forever and for the worse. They were all in formal dress, uniforms or civilian, but the attitude was anything but reserved. Admiral Janeway was in the center, surrounded by her former senior staff and their families. Harry Kim, still wearing the rank of commander, had one arm around Navi and the other hand on Christopher's shoulder, eleven years old and trying to make himself look taller. Professors Chakotay and Seven of Nine were both there, but not standing near each other, Seven looking slightly uncomfortable. Captains Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres stood together, his arm around her shoulder; next to them were Lieutenants Miral Paris and Richard Yosting, on leave from the Yorktown, in a time before Owen was born. And near the center of the group, acting as unceremonious as ever, Cadets Joe Paris, Abbey Paris, and Nenyaht were standing—rather, Joe and Nenyaht were standing, and holding up Abbey between them to make her look taller. She remembered laughing so hard as they held her up that as soon as the holoimage was taken, they couldn't take it anymore and ended up dropping her.

"We had just finished our first year," Abbey said, more to herself than anyone in the room. "We were so young…"

"And thought we knew everything," Joe finished with a grin. "Which, of course, we did. And let everyone know it."

She grinned back in reply and placed the picture where she would be able to see it from anywhere in the room. She figured it would be a good reminder of more normal times.

"You know, Harry hasn't seen you guys yet," Captain Paris said suddenly. "Computer, locate Captain Harry Kim."

Captain Kim is in the main sickbay, the computer replied.

Tom grinned devilishly. "Abbey, I think it's time for your physical. And I think we need to walk you there."

---

Main sickbay, as Abbey knew from glancing at the schematics, was many times larger than the auxiliary flight sickbay, where she would be working. There were seventy beds, staffed by thirty physicians and even more nurses and medics. At the moment, there were about fifteen physicians giving physicals, and about thirty of the beds were occupied.

"Name and department?" one of the medics asked as Abbey entered the sickbay.

"That's Dr. Abigail Paris, flight surgeon," a voice responded from one of the beds. Abbey broke into a grin when she recognized the form lying there.

"Hi, Harry," she responded, then flushed. "I mean, Captain Kim," she corrected. This is going to get awkward very quickly, she thought. Ever since she was five, Harry was just Harry. Before that, he was Uncle Harry.

"So, Harry," Captain Torres said in an accusatory tone. "Why did we have to hear from Admiral Janeway first that you were taking command? I thought we were family."

"Your husband already gave me the lecture," Kim replied with a roll of his eyes. "The whole bit about it not being married your sister that made us family." It wasn't until three years after the Voyager crew returned to Earth that B'Elanna Torres even met her half-sister, and after an initial rocky start, the two got along very well, despite the eleven-year age difference and opposite personalities; B'Elanna was quick to anger, due to her half-Klingon temper, whereas Navi was more constrained and calculating, thanks to the influence from her half-Vulcan, half-Betazoid mother. Although B'Elanna was upset when she found out that then-Lieutenant Harry Kim started dating Navi the first time he was back on Earth, he and Tom managed to convince B'Elanna to get to know her younger half-sister and give her a chance. She eventually conceded, going so far as to name Harry and Navi godparents of the twins when they were born three years later.

They decided that as soon as both Abbey and Harry finished their physicals, Harry would give them the official tour of the ship. He showed them the key areas of the ship: the bridge, his ready room, engineering, the officer dining halls, the flight sickbay, and finished with what he knew Tom, B'Elanna, and Miral would all want to see: the fighter bays. The single-pilot fighters were arranged in rows, as far as the eyes could see. They stood there in silence as they watched the maintenance crews work on the small vessels. "It's like a candy store," Miral finally said, in a tone that told them she was barely able to contain herself.

Harry slapped Tom on the back. "Who would have known that your creation would come to this?" he asked rhetorically.

"Our design was nothing like these," Tom replied in wonder. The first single-pilot fighter was designed by Tom and B'Elanna years before, before the war even broke out, and had been improved upon since.

"Once our full crew is aboard, we'll have two thousand pilots for twelve hundred fighters, and fifteen hundred engineers and maintenance personnel whose sole jobs will be to keep them running," Harry announced. "Pretty impressive, if you ask me."

"What's your full crew compliment?" B'Elanna asked.

"Counting pilots and the Bajoran ground unit, we'll have fifty-five hundred, with room for more," Harry replied.

"And they put you in charge of all it," Tom stated.

"Yeah," Harry replied, looking out at the rows of fighters. "Think I can handle it?"

---

On their walk back to Abbey's quarters, the Paris family ran into two people they would not have expected to see under such circumstances, and certainly not together.

"Moving in?" Tom jokingly asked Professor Chakotay, who was carrying a box and coming down the corridor toward them.

"Yeah, Harry told me they needed an old Anthropology professor, and I volunteered for the job. Someone has to keep tabs on him, after all."

"Captain Kim is more than capable of commanding this vessel without your help," Seven of Nine retorted. She turned to Captain Paris. "Nenyaht has been reassigned to the Kirk. The Enterprise is coming in tonight, and we came to move some items into his quarters before he arrived."

"And what about you? Moving Joe in?" Chakotay asked.

Joe scoffed. "Me? Assigned to a ship? That wouldn't last long. We're actually sending Abbey off."

Chakotay looked surprised when he turned to Abbey; this was clearly the first he had heard of this. "I thought you had accepted a posting at Utopia Planitia."

"I did," she replied. "But this came up, and I really couldn't turn it down. I had no idea Nenyaht would be here, too," she added. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that; Nenyaht had been one of her closest friends when they were kids, but to say that they had grown apart since he graduated from the Academy six years before would have been an understatement. She wasn't sure how it would feel to see him again. "Where are his quarters?" she asked.

"Right here," Chakotay said, gesturing toward the door on his left.

"Look at that, Abbey—you're right across the corridor," Miral pointed out. Sure enough, the door directly across from Abbey's quarters was the one Chakotay had just pointed out, clearly labeled with "Lt. Nenyaht, Engineering". Her own door was similarly marked, "Lt. Abigail Paris, MD, Flight Surgeon".

"Do you think we should warn Security that those two are going to be in such close proximity? There's no telling what stunts they could pull," B'Elanna joked.

"You're telling me. When I had Abbey and Joe in class their second year, Nenyaht helped them break into my lab and change all of the descriptions of the artifacts I was showing in class the next day to read that they were all involved in the sexual practices of the civilizations they came from. I didn't catch the changes until class was underway. I'm sure there were many cadets in that class trying to imagine how some of those artifacts could be construed as sexual."

Joe pretended to look appalled. "Professor, there is absolutely no evidence that Abbey, Nenyaht, or myself was involved in that incident. If there had been, I'm sure the Academy would have taken disciplinary action."

Everyone rolled their eyes. There was never any evidence that those three cadets were involved in any of the many pranks that occurred during their years there, but it was a widely known fact that they were responsible for the majority of them. Seeing as no one ever got hurt, most of the professors let it slide without much more than a grumble, and among the other students, it was almost an honor to be "Parised", as it became known.

"I'm sure both Nenyaht and Dr. Paris will show more constraint now than they had as cadets," Seven remarked dryly. "Or one should hope."

They shared a chuckle, and the adults expressed a desire to meet up for dinner at some point when they all had the time. With nothing else to say, they split off into the separate quarters and went back to their business.