"Beloved"
by R. Marie Sinclair


The U.S.S. Voyager flew in a majestic arc over a Class-M planetoid. Neelix had led them here, promising that they would find an abundance of food supplies there, but the captain, being cautious had ordered extensive scans before sending down any away teams. The first readouts were coming back now. Sitting at the science console on the bridge, Ensign Samantha Wildman was analyzing the data that flashed across her console. Her brow suddenly furrowed in puzzlement at one of the schematics.

"Captain," Samantha summoned her over.

Janeway came over. "You have something, Ensign?" she asked.

"We're getting telemetry back from the probe, but..." Samantha's voice faded in confusion.

"These scans don't show hardly any vegetation at all," the captain remarked. Janeway straightened and called over to Neelix who was at the Ops console with Harry Kim. "Neelix, I thought you said this planet had abundant food supplies."

Neelix shook his head in disbelief. "They do! Or...at least they did the last time I was here. I just don't know what's happened."

Just then, a sensor panel bleeped. Samantha worked the console briefly. "Captain," she said. "Sensors just picked something up about three meters below the surface. It looks like a very faint life form reading, it's fading fast."

The captain didn't look too happy about this latest development. She turned to Tuvok.

"Tuvok, any indication that this was a warp civilization?"

Tuvok shook his head. "I am not reading any warp emissions or detecting any signs of that, Captain. I am also not detecting any other discernable life form readings aside from the one Ensign Wildman reported."

Janeway frowned. Now she was in a quandary. Would she send a rescue team down, or not? Her first officer seemed to be thinking the same thing. He stood up, and joined her in the middle of the bridge.

"Orders, Captain?" he asked.

Janeway thought for a moment, and then spoke. "Take an away team, Commander."

She'd just have to deal with the consequences later. Tuvok frowned at her decision.

"Captain, may I remind you that..."

Janeway nodded. "I know, Tuvok, but we do have an obligation to investigate."

She nodded for her first officer to proceed, and Chakotay indicated for Paris and Samantha to accompany him, and they headed for the turbolift.

When Chakotay, Paris and Wildman materialized on the surface, it was hardly what they'd expected to find. The planet's surface was literally barren rock. Not one building was visible, and there was virtually no vegetation at all, save for a few wilted shrubs. Their wrist beacons snapped on, and tricorders began scanning.

"I'm detecting a tunnel about twenty meters north of us," Samantha said. "It leads almost directly to the coordinates of the lifesign we detected in orbit."

Chakotay nodded. "Ok. Let's go."

The three carefully maneuvered their way down the tunnel until they came to a large cavern. A series of tunnels led in three different directions, and they quickly found the right one. Chakotay tapped his commbadge. "Chakotay to Voyager."

"We read you, Commander. What's your status?" Janeway's voice asked.

"We're in one of the underground caves following the lifesign trail," the first officer responded.

"Proceed with caution, Commander. We'll alert The Doctor to stand by."

****

"Aye, Captain. Chakotay out."

"It's in there," Samantha peered down one of the tunnels.

The First Officer nodded his approval for Samantha to continue, and motioned to Paris. "Paris, go with her."

Samantha and Tom carefully navigated their way down a narrow corridor littered with debris and dust. Stepping gingerly around the clutter, they followed the tunnel further until it branched off into two directions. They both looked at each other.

"Which way now?" Paris asked.

Studying her tricorder scans, it took Samantha just seconds to eliminate the wrong tunnel.

"It's coming from that one," she said, pointing to the one on the left.

The two carefully and slowly started down the tunnel.

"Hello in there! Can anyone hear me?" Samantha shouted.

Her voice reverberated off of the cave walls like a bouncing rubber ball. Suddenly, the ground shook violently, and a section of tunnel behind them collapsed.

"Something tells me we'd better hurry!" Paris advised as he brushed the dirt from his uniform.

The two hurried down the tunnel further. Tom's commbadge suddenly chirped to life.

"Tom, are you and Wildman alright?" a voice asked. It was Chakotay.

"We're alright, Commander. We're almost there!" Paris said.

Just then, Samantha spotted something. It was a body protruding from under a pile of charred rubble.

"Tom, over here," Wildman called out, and hurried to the unconscious form. It was a girl of barely more than ten earth years.

"She's alive, but barely," Paris noted, scanning the child with his tricorder.

Another tremor shook the ground violently. Any moment now these walls would collapse in over them.

"We have to get her out of here," Wildman said.

Samantha and Tom began hurling debris off of the bruised and bloodied girl.

"Ensign Wildman to Voyager, I need emergency transport directly to sickbay. Lock onto my coordinates and energize."

I can't get a clear pattern lock. There's too much radiometric interference," the transporter technician responded.

"It's the metallic alloys in these rocks. They're interfering with transport," Paris explained as he scanned.

Samantha gently gathered the injured girl in her arms, and they hurried back down the tunnel. Midway through, another jolt sent her colliding with the wall, still holding the girl. Only Paris's firm grip on her arm kept Samantha from crashing to the ground.

"Paris!" Chakotay yelled while coming towards them.

"It's getting worse! We need to get out of here!" Tom yelled back.

The three of them took off at nearly a run, and finally a few seconds later, emerged from the dark chasm. Chakotay ascended up to the surface first, and then reached down to take the girl from Samantha's arms. The ensign carefully handed her up to him, and then helped her up. Tom was right behind her.

"Here, give her to me," Samantha said, and she took the girl in her arms again.

"Voyager, beam us up!" Chakotay ordered.

Seconds later all of them where whisked away in the transporter beam.

****

The group materialized in sickbay. The Doctor was already in the surgical bay awaiting them. So was the captain. Wildman gently laid the limp form on the exam bed, and The Doctor scanned the injured girl with his tricorder.

"She has second and third degree radiothermic burns over 60% of her body," he reported. "Severe concussion, internal bleeding, several fractures. She's going to need immediate surgery if we're going to save her life."

Janeway nodded her consent, and The Doctor set off to work.

A few hours later, the alien girl's injuries attended to, she was out of the woods.

****

The girl slowly opened her eyes and looked up into the face of a woman. The woman stared back down at her, and then spoke.

"Doctor, she has regained consciousness."

The child noticed that the woman had a strange looking metal thing stuck on her face.

"What's that?" the girl asked weakly.

"Please define what you are referring to," Seven requested.

The girl pointed to Seven's eyepiece. "What's that thing on your face?"

"It is a cybernetic Borg implant designed to..."

The girl began to panic, looking absolutely fearful.

"Borg!" she yelled. "Borg!"

Despite her injuries, the girl managed to scramble off of the bed, and proceeded to run to the door. They opened at her approach, but her path of escape was blocked as she ran smack dab into Ensign Wildman who was just on her way in.

"Woah...Slow down there, kiddo," Samantha said soothingly as she tried to steer her back into sickbay.

"Kill it! It's going to assimilate me!" the child pleaded, trying to hide behind Samantha.

Seven by now had left, using the rear exit. The Doctor, hearing the commotion, came out of his office.

"Now, everything is going to be alright. No one is going to hurt you here," he assured her. The girl didn't seem convinced.

"A Borg was just here! It tried to assimilate me!" she panicked.

Samantha tried to use her maternal instincts to quell the tense situation. "Seven isn't going to hurt you. She isn't a Borg drone anymore. She's a member of this crew. No one here is going to hurt you. You're safe now, okay?" Wildman reassured her.

The child calmed down a bit. "Where am I?" she asked.

"You're on board a ship called Voyager," Wildman explained. "We found you on a planet, and you were badly injured, but you'll be alright now. We're going to take care of you," she assured the frightened little girl. "What's your name?"

"Raeina," the girl whispered, trusting Samantha a little more now.

"I'm Samantha," Wildman said. "This is The Doctor."

"Where are my parents?" Raeina asked.

"We didn't find anyone else," Wildman said apologetically.

Raeina sank to her knees, and began crying. "The Borg took them all," she sobbed. "They came down to the planet and started taking people away! I tried to hide from them! I was scared. I...I didn't know what to do!"

Samantha knelt by Raeina's side, and held her for a long while, allowing the girl to cry in her arms.

"It'll be okay now. You'll be safe here with us...We'll take care of you," she reassured the girl.

****

"She said that her planet was attacked by the Borg six days ago, and that during one attack she was separated from her parents. She found some underground caves, and that's where she hid until we found her," Samantha explained to the senior officers who were gathered in the briefing room.

"Tuvok, any sign of Borg activity nearby?" Janeway asked.

The Vulcan tactical officer shook his head. "No. However, I am running constant scans, and we are at battle readiness, Captain."

Janeway nodded. "I want a series of battle drills scheduled for all shifts," she ordered.

"Now I guess we need to figure out what to do with our young guest," Paris said matter-of-factly.

"Well, we obviously can't just send her back to where we found her," Chakotay remarked.

"She can stay with me," Ensign Wildman said.

So, Raeina went to live with the Wildmans.

****

The next afternoon following Samantha's duty shift, they all decided to go to the Mess Hall for dinner...well, all except Raeina.

"Raeina, it's perfectly safe to come out. Seven is not going to assimilate you. I promise," Samantha tried to coax the girl out of Naomi's room, but to no avail.

Naomi abandoned her Kotis Kot board, and came over to see what she could do. "I'll talk to her, Mom."

Samantha nodded. Naomi went to the door, and tried to convince Raeina to come out.

"Raeina, Seven won't hurt you. She's not really a Borg anymore. I was scared of Seven too when she first came on board, but she's nice once you get to know her," Naomi said.

"Do you promise she won't assimilate me?" Raeina asked from behind the door.

"I promise," Naomi said.

Raeina finally relented and opened the door. On the way to the Mess Hall, Naomi was explaining to Raeina all about her Flotter holodeck program, which she planned to show her after dinner. Finally, they arrived in the Mess Hall. Neelix, wearing an apron, was behind the counter stirring a pot of something.

"You should try the leola root casserole. It's good!" Naomi told Raeina as they walked over to their usual table.

Samantha tried not to make a face. Naomi seemed to be the only one who actually liked that stuff! She herded her two young charges off to a corner table, and went off to go and get their lunch. Joe Carey and Susan Nicoletti, who were in line to get their trays, greeted Samantha.

"Hi, Sam," Carey said cheerfully, handing her three trays.

"Hi, Joe," she responded, taking it from him.

"How's the new addition to the family?" Sue asked.

"Adjusting...Although the poor thing is still convinced that Seven is going to assimilate her."

Joe and Sue frowned. They both knew how long it had taken the crew to get used to Seven being on board. For a child whose entire planet had just been ravaged by the Borg, they knew it must be terrifying to not only be homeless and an orphan, but now to come face to face with the people who ravaged her home planet. It was much more than any child should have to go through.

Neelix took the trays from her, and piled them with the green casserole.

"Hi, Samantha! How's family life?" he asked.

"We're adjusting," she said, as she gathered up the trays, and maneuvered her way back to the table.

Back at the table, Raeina was peppering Naomi with questions.

"How many people are on your ship?" Raeina asked, fascinated as she looked around the room at all the people.

"One hundred and forty-seven," Naomi replied confidently, proud that she knew so much about Voyager.

"What do they all do?"

Naomi pointed to a crewman wearing a red command uniform. "Well, the ones in the red sometimes fly shuttles or are in command of away missions," Naomi explained. "The ones in the gold uniforms work in engineering or in security, and the ones in blue uniforms help sick people or they work in the science labs like my Mom does."

"I like your Mom. She's nice," Raeina said softly.

Naomi thought she heard a tinge of longing in the girl's voice. A few seconds later, Samantha arrived back at their table with three plates of leola root casserole. She had reluctantly settled on the casserole, as it was the only thing Neelix was serving for dinner.

"Here we go," Wildman said as she set two plates in front of Raeina and Naomi, and then sat down with hers.

****

The next morning, Samantha luckily had Beta shift, which meant she didn't have to be at work until after lunch. Naomi had a duty shift with Seven, and so Raeina decided to go with Samantha to the science lab. She obediently stayed close to Samantha as she followed her into the large room filled with consoles and equipment.

"...And this is where I work," Wildman said.

Raeina was instantly fascinated by all of this new technology she had never seen before. Blinking buttons, beeping consoles, it was all so interesting! As Samantha began working at her own console, Raeina slowly ventured to a nearby work station.

"What does this do?" Raeina asked Samantha, indicating a blinking yellow button on one of the consoles.

Samantha looked up from her work to see what Raeina was pointing at.

"That activates the forward scanner array," Wildman explained. "We can scan space with it."

Raeina looked absolutely amazed at the wealth of technology that surrounded her.

"We never had anything like this on Q'nar!" she gasped.

One of Samantha's staff handed the ensign a padd which she looked over briefly before handing back to him.

"What are you doing?" Raeina asked, turning her attention back to Samantha.

"I'm reconfiguring the data telemetry stream on a Class-9 probe we have scanning a protonebula in this sector," Samantha explained as she worked, trying not to sound as if what she was doing was very exciting. It actually wasn't. "Gerron, any luck fixing that data feedback loop problem with the probe's sensory imaging buffers?" she asked.

From his own console a short distance away, the young Bajoran officer nodded. "I think so," he said.

"Good work," she thanked him.

Raeina had no idea what these people were talking about, but the big words fascinated her. Ensign Wildman couldn't figure out for the life of her what Raeina found so fascinating about such a simple procedure, but she knew that the Q'nar never had technology comparable to Voyager's. This was all new to Raeina, but she was beginning to understand what some of the readout meant.

"What are you doing now?" she asked.

"Adjusting the forward sensor array to..."

"To...match the phase variance of the star's radioactive particle output ratio?" Raeina asked.

"That's...exactly right!" Samantha exclaimed, surprised that Raeina seemed to be catching on so fast.

Just then, Naomi entered.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Raeina," Naomi greeted them.

"Hi," Raeina said.

"Hi, honey. How was your duty shift?" Samantha asked.

"Oh, same as usual," she said.

Naomi giggled as she turned her attention to Crewman Gerron. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Naomi had quite a crush on the dashingly handsome young man that her mother worked with. She'd been attached to him ever since she was two, according to her mother. Gerron, just nineteen, was by far the youngest Voyager crewmember.

"Hi, Gerron!" Naomi crowed loudly, attracting a few soft giggles from some other crewmen.

Gerron nervously smiled as he worked. His ears turned a bright pink. Samantha just rolled her eyes.

"Raeina, you want to go play on the holodeck again?" Naomi asked.

"No, I want to stay in here. It's fun!" Raeina said.

Fun? Naomi thought. What could be so fun about sitting around in a science lab? Well, other than to stare at Gerron all day.

"Actually, we're going to be pretty busy in here for awhile, Raeina. Why don't you go run along and play with Naomi. I'll be done here in a few hours, and then we can all go get something to eat," Samantha suggested.

Raeina shrugged and nodded. As she scampered off with Naomi, Samantha overheard Raeina asking if they could melt Flotter again. Melt Flotter! What in the Delta Quadrant were they doing to that poor blue man!

"Oh, I don't think he'd like that too much," Naomi said.

****

Several weeks passed, and Raeina began to feel at home on Voyager. She even managed to become friends with Seven of Nine, and was especially close to Samantha. At times, Naomi noticed just how close Raeina was trying to get, and it made her jealous...even a little mad. This was her mother, not Raeina's!

Soon, Naomi began to resent Raeina coming on board. One afternoon, Samantha had promised to show Naomi a new skiing program on the holodeck. Raeina hadn't expressed much interest in skiing, and so Naomi was relieved that it would just be her and her mother...Just like old times.

"Ready?" Naomi asked her mother as she entered the science lab, oogling at Gerron again.

Samantha smiled at her daughter's exuberance. "Let me just finish this up, and then we can go."

While her mother finished up, Naomi decided to make her bangs fly up and down by blowing on them. Noticing how bored her daughter was while waiting for her, Samantha suggested, "Why don't you go over and invite Gerron to come skiing with us."

Naomi nearly choked. "Mom!" she gasped.

"Sorry...Just a thought," Samantha whispered.

A few minutes later, just as Samantha was logging off her console, a very exuberant Neelix called her over the comm system to tell her about a new art project that Raeina had just finished. Naomi rolled her eyes, although was careful not to let her mother see.

"Naomi and I will stop by to see it on our way to the holodeck," she said.

Oh, no we won't! Naomi thought.

"Actually, Mom...I'm kind of hungry. I'm going to go home and eat something, and then I'll meet you at the holodeck," she lied.

Once Naomi was safely in the turbolift, she felt tears sting her eyes. How could her mother love Raeina more than her! It just wasn't fair! She was going to just go somewhere where her mother couldn't find her, and she was never going to come out! Ever! When the lift stopped, she got out, ran to her quarters, and took her commbadge off. Looking for somewhere to put it, she settled on the Flotter doll that was sitting on her bed. That accomplished, she boarded the turbolift again, and stopped at deck six. Naomi got out and went to holodeck two. She programmed the computer to bring up one of her Flotter programs, and then sealed the door with a Borg encryption code.

About twenty minutes later, Samantha entered her quarters looking for Naomi.

"Naomi?" Samantha called out when she'd arrived home.

No one answered.

"Naomi?" she called again.

Still no answer.

"Computer, locate Naomi Wildman," Samantha requested.

"Naomi Wildman is in her quarters," the computer responded.

Samantha looked into Naomi's room again, and that's when she discovered Naomi's comm badge affixed to her Flotter doll.

"Ensign Wildman to Neelix, is Naomi with you?"

"No, she isn't," he responded.

"Thanks," she said.

****

Ensign Wildman disembarked the bridge turbolift in a near panic.

"Samantha?" Janeway asked, as she noticed the flustered woman stepping off of the turbolift.

"Naomi is missing. I found her commbadge in our quarters, but she wasn't there," Samantha explained.

"That's odd," Janeway said. "Computer, scan the ship for any human-Ktarian life signs."

"Unable to comply. That command is invalid," the computer replied.

"Invalid?" Janeway asked out loud. "Computer, initiate my previous request. Authorization Janeway Alpha Zero One."

"There is one human-Ktarian lifesign present in holodeck two," the computer said.

****

Arriving outside of the holodeck, Samantha tapped a command onto the access console, but the doors refused to open.

"She's locked me out, Captain," Wildman told Janeway as the captain arrived.

Janeway tried to release the lockout. "This is a Borg encryption code," the captain observed.

"Where is Naomi learning Borg encryption codes?" Samantha asked, mildly frustrated.

Captain Janeway tapped her commbadge. "Janeway to Seven of Nine, please report to holodeck two."

"I am on my way," Seven responded.

A few minutes later, Seven arrived looking perplexed.

"Captain?" Seven asked.

"Naomi has locked us out of the holodeck using a Borg encryption code. I need you to disable it," the captain said.

Seven nodded, and set off to work. It didn't take her long to disable to the lock on the doors.

Samantha entered the holodeck. She recognized it as one of the Flotter chapters. Just then, she saw Flotter coming towards her. He didn't look too happy with her at all.

"Where's Naomi?" she asked the blue hued man.

Flotter frowned. "She's sad, Samantha."

Ensign Wildman looked confused. "Why?"

"She thinks you don't love her anymore," Treevis said, as he came from around a tree.

Wildman looked shocked, almost horrified. "What!"

"She thinks that you love that other little girl more than you love her," Flotter explained.

Samantha was stunned silent.

"Don't you love Naomi anymore, Samantha?" Flotter asked.

"Of course I do!" she said adamantly. "Where is she? I want to talk to her."

"She's down by the river," Treevis said.

Samantha thanked them, and set off towards the river. "Naomi?" her mother called to her.

"Go away!" Naomi yelled, scooting further down the bank.

Samantha carefully maneuvered her way closer to her daughter. "Why are you hiding? What's wrong?" she asked.

Naomi wiped a tear away from her cheek.

"Why don't you just go play with Raeina! She's the one you love anyway!" Naomi retorted angrily.

Samantha looked shocked, and then sad. Had Naomi really thought that? She tried to come a little closer.

"Naomi, I don't love Raeina more than I love you, I was just trying to help her fit in and feel comfortable here. I'm sorry if I..."

"I'll jump in if you don't go away!" Naomi threatened, scooting even closer to the water.

"Naomi, come on now...Don't talk that way."

Just then, Naomi lost her footing on the steep bank, and fell into the raging river. Samantha lunged for her, but was too late, and the river was sweeping her away.

"Computer, end program!" Samantha ordered, as she raced along the riverbank to find a good place to dive in after her child.

"Unable to comply. All holodeck commands are encrypted," the voice responded.

"Mom, save me!" Naomi pleaded, sputtering water and trying to stay afloat.

Samantha jumped in, and began fighting the current to get to her daughter. After several tense moments, Samantha finally could reach her. She grabbed ahold of her child, and pulled her close. Naomi, panicking, grabbed onto her mother's neck with such force that she submerged her completely. Her lungs screaming for air, Samantha opened her eyes in the semi-murky water, trying to find something to grab onto. Naomi was still holding onto her in a deathgrip.

Finally, Samantha spotted a tree root. Grabbing onto it, she was able to pull herself and Naomi up above water. They both coughed up water, and Naomi was sobbing. With the last of her strength, Samantha was able to push Naomi up onto the bank. Just then, a pair of hands grabbed her arms. It was the captain.

"She's okay," Samantha said as she collapsed onto the ground.

"We'll get you two to sickbay just to be sure," Janeway insisted.

"I'll take her, Captain. Can we have a minute?"

Janeway nodded, and moved off a respectful distance away. Samantha pulled herself all the way out of the water, coughing. Naomi looked absolutely panic stricken and sorrowful at what she'd just done. She could have died, and so could have her mother.

"I-I'm sorry, Mommy!" Naomi said through her sobs, embracing her mother tightly.

Naomi hadn't called her "mommy" in a long time.

"Why did you do that, Naomi?" her mother asked.

"I-I thought you didn't love me anymore," Naomi sniffled.

"Naomi, I do love you. I could never, ever stop loving you. You're my child," Wildman assured her.

"But you love Raeina more!" Naomi sobbed.

"What? No, I don't," Samantha said.

Mother and daughter sat for a long time, talking. Finally, they realized just how late it had become, and decided to go find Raeina. It didn't take the two of them long to track down where Raeina was hiding. She was in Neelix's quarters.

"I'm just causing so much trouble here," Raeina sobbed in Neelix's arms.

"Now, Raeina, I'm sure that's not true," the Talaxian said, trying to cheer her up.

Just then, the door chime rang.

"Come in," Neelix said.

Samantha and Naomi, still both sopping wet, came in. Neelix, a little perplexed as to why they were both dripping wet, gave Samantha a puzzled look.

"We had a little incident on the holodeck," she explained.

Naomi went over to Raeina slowly.

"I'm sorry I caused so much trouble," Raeina apologized.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry," Naomi said. "I wasn't very nice to you before. I do want you to live with us, Raeina."

"You really do?" Raeina asked, sniffling.

"We'll be just like a family...Only a bigger family!" Naomi smiled, hugging Raeina.

Raeina smiled. She knew that she'd never be alone again. She'd found a family...

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