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"Tabor, we've been hiking for two hours straight. Where is this 'spectacular view' you've been promising us?" Tom Paris asked.
"We're almost there, Tom," the Bajoran ensign replied. His girlfriend, Crewman Olandra Jor, smiled as he grabbed her by the hand. "How are you kids doing?" Tabor asked.
"Who are you calling a kid, Ensign Tabor?" B'Elanna Torres answered, assuming a mock "superior officer to underling" personal. Naomi and Icheb both laughed, but Icheb had to admit, he was ready for a break.
The group was hiking along the High Bajoran trail, which Tabor had helped Tom create as part of his "Hiking Trail" holodeck program series. Everyone was more than ready to get to the lookout Tabor promised had a "spectacular view." That was where they were supposed to stop for lunch, and Icheb was hungry.
"Here we are," Tabor announced, as the group marched out of a stand of trees. He waved them off the trail onto a short path which served as the approach to a huge rock. After a few quick steps up, the six hikers were able to view the charming scene spread before them.
The broad valley floor was dotted with small farms, patches of woodland, and at least a dozen streams that rushed down the mountains lining both sides of valley, joining the lazy Karliffa River as it meandered from side to side. The cliffs facing them looked like they had been terraced by humanoids, but, in fact, they were a natural feature of the landscape. Every layer was a different color and was composed of a different form of sedimentary rock, each of which had weathered at a different rate. The cliffs looked a little like the cake Neelix had just prepared to commemorate the Delaney sisters' birthday. The juxtaposition of the natural mountainsides with the farmland on the valley floor was very pleasing. It was very different from the way Brunal had looked. Icheb wondered if his home world might once have had peaceful scenes such as this, before the Borg had ruined it all.
After a few minutes, Tabor broke the silence, but the tone of his voice was soft and reverential. "I came here with my family many times when I was very small. Once, when I was about eight years old, I hiked the whole trail with my father and uncle. I didn't know at the time that what they were really doing was surveying an escape route for the Resistance to use to get to a cavern hideout." He pointed at a branch of the main trail just ahead. "That's where the cut off was. When you go down that path towards the creek, there's a rocky section that hides your footprints. Once you turned off towards the hideout, the stony way made it hard for the Cardassians to trace you. The Resistance kept the cavern stocked with supplies." Tabor sighed sadly. "My uncle was caught about a year later, and my whole family was sent to Crell Moset's hospital afterwards. My grandfather died there."
Icheb remembered reading something about this hospital in his study of Voyager's logs. He looked past Tabor to B'Elanna, who was getting a little agitated. Tom put his arm around her shoulders, and she began to calm down a bit. To distract Naomi from Tom and B'Elanna's problem, whatever it was, Icheb asked Tabor, "Does this valley look the same now?"
"I've been in the Delta Quadrant for over six years now, Icheb. And I was in the Maquis for more than two years before that, so I haven't been here in years. This is the way it looked the last time I was here, though, and in his last datastream letter, my brother said this valley was still green and beautiful. The Cardassians never ruined this one, like they did so many others."
"Ensign Tabor, does seeing it now bring back bad memories because of what happened to your family afterwards?" Naomi asked.
"The memories are sad, but this is still a beautiful spot. I actually programmed this lookout section about three years ago, for my personal use. Every time I come here, I pray to the Prophets to safeguard the soul of my grandfather. As soon as Tom told me about his Hiking Trails project, I immediately thought of including this trail as a tribute to Grandfather. My memories are bittersweet, Naomi, but don't you think maybe that Ktarian trail is a little like that for your mother? She volunteered to help program that one. She hiked it with your dad long before you were born."
"She did say something like that to me after we walked it. It's amazing to think this whole scene fits inside a small part of Voyager, isn't it? It looks like a real place, not a holographic program. Fair Haven is like that, too, Lieutenant Paris. Especially the part near the shoreline."
"Thanks, Naomi. As often as I come in here to set up new programs, it still amazes me what holodeck technology can do."
"Tabor, would you like to spend a few moments in prayer before we walk on?" Olandra asked.
"If all of you don't mind the delay . . ."
"No problem," Tom said. "It's time for lunch."
Tabor and Jor kneeled together on the hard rock at the lookout's crest and held hands. Very softly, Tabor chanted some words in Bajoran. Icheb didn't know if Crewman Jor understood Tabor's Bajoran words, but she knelt next to her boyfriend quietly until he was finished. The other four hikers stepped down the path a short way, where several boulders created ample seating. They broke out the food, but they didn't start to eat until the couple finished their prayers and joined them.
The group had just cleaned up the remnats of their meal was about to continue onward when they were interrupted by a comm call.
:::Lieutenant Paris,::: Commander Chakotay's disembodied voice said. :::Sorry to interrupt you on your day off, but you're needed on the bridge. We've intercepted a distress call, and the captain wants you at the helm during our approach.:::
"Understood," Tom replied. "I'll be right there." Turning to the others as he signed off, Tom said, "We're about three quarters of the way along the trail, if you want to finish today."
"Not if there's a distress call. Tabor, Jor, we'd better get to Engineering. Sorry about this, Naomi. Icheb." The Chief Engineer of Voyager was the person addressing them now.
"That's okay, Lieutenant Torres. I should go to my quarters so my mom knows where I am. We can finish the program another day."
"I'll walk with you, Naomi," Icheb said, as Lieutenant Paris called for the arch to exit the holodeck. It was strange, but as soon as they received that call, they'd all reverted to Lieutenant Paris, Lieutenant Torres, Ensign Tabor, Crewman Jor, Cadet Icheb - and future cadet/captain's assistant Naomi.
Once they were out of the holodeck, Lieutenant Paris gave his wife a quick kiss good-bye before striding quickly down the corridor. The engineers moved quickly away in the opposite direction, leaving the two young people behind.
"Don't you have a duty station to go to, Icheb?" Naomi asked.
"No, not really. I will go to Astrometrics if Seven wants my help, but otherwise, I'm supposed to follow my normal schedule for the day."
". . . which has been disrupted by the distress call," Naomi sighed. "You don't have to walk with me to my quarters. I can get there by myself."
"Of course, but I promised to go with you, so I will."
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