Double Trouble by Rebecca Schultz & Nicole King......... |
*Special thanks to Nikki for suggesting the title, and many ideas for this story.* |
Naomi was thrilled
that her mother had allowed her to accompany the away team to a
planet they'd discovered in this system. She had studied all
about the planet, called Tellaria, and was especially happy that
there would be children her own age to play with for awhile.
Captain Janeway had told her to report to the transporter room at
0900 hours.
The next morning, Naomi was up even before her mother was. She
quickly got dressed, and went out into the living room to
continue her study of Tellaria's ecosystem. She picked up a padd
and read from where she'd left off yesterday. Twenty or so
minutes passed, and then Naomi heard a shuffling behind her
followed by a loud thud.
"Ouch!" the voice gasped.
Naomi turned around to see what had happened, and saw her mother
bent over and rubbing her left knee.
"Computer, lights," Samantha ordered.
The lights came on, and then Samantha saw the offending object
that her knee had collided with in the dark. It was her end
table. She rolled her eyes at the dreadfully ugly piece of
furniture. It had been a gift from Neelix, and although it did
absolutely nothing to enhance the decor of her quarters, Samantha
just didn't have the heart to get rid of it for fear of hurting
the Talaxian's feelings.
"Naomi, why are you up so early?" she asked when she
saw Naomi sitting there.
"Just researching before my away mission. I am the
Captain's Assistant, Mom," Naomi said as professionally as
she could.
Samantha laughed. Naomi was sure taking this Captain's Assistant
thing very seriously. Well, maybe that was a good thing. At least
it kept her busy. The pain in her knee subsided, Samantha walked
over to the replicator.
"Can I make the Captain's Assistant some breakfast before
she goes on her mission?" Samantha asked with a smile.
"Yes please," Naomi answered, briefly looking up from
her padd.
"What would you like?" she asked.
"Two eggs over easy, a side of bacon and a cup of black
coffee, please," Naomi responded without hesitation.
"Black coffee?" Samantha asked.
"That's what Captain Janeway has each morning," Naomi
replied matter-of-factly.
Naomi gave her mother a serious look, and so rather than debate
the issue, Samantha simply input the order into the replicator.
The replicator produced two eggs over easy, a side of bacon, and
a cup of black coffee, and Samantha set the plate in front of
Naomi.
"Here you go," she said.
Now, given the fact that Naomi had never had coffee before,
Samantha was a bit curious as to whether Naomi would actually
drink it or not. To her surprise, Naomi took a sip. From the face
her daughter made when she had swallowed, it was clear to Ensign
Wildman that Naomi wasn't too sure about the coffee part of her
breakfast any longer.
"Yuck!" Naomi said, making a face, and shoving away the
coffee cup.
Her mother just rolled her eyes and laughed.
A few minutes later, Naomi glanced at the chronometer on the
wall. It was almost 0900.
"I have to go or I'll be late," Naomi said, as if she
were the parent and her mother were the child.
"Don't get into trouble down there now. Listen to Captain
Janeway," her mother reminded her.
"I will, Mom," Naomi said as she left.
****
Naomi entered the transporter room to find that Captain Janeway,
Lieutenant Paris, and Lieutenant Commander Tuvok were already
there. Tuvok was debating something quietly with the captain, and
Tom Paris was pretending to be busy at a console, but all the
while being quite amused at Tuvok's ever persistent attention to
protocols.
"Well, is the Captain's Assistant ready for her first away
mission?" Paris asked Naomi lightly when he saw her come in.
"I sure am!" Naomi replied excitedly.
Captain Janeway smiled. The four stepped onto the transporter
pad, and were beamed down to Tellaria. As soon as Naomi saw her
surroundings, she was awestruck. They had materialized in the
midst of a beautiful garden landscape. Flowers were planted
everywhere, and a nearby stream bubbled softly. The air was fresh
and clean, and carried a faint aroma of flowers. A group of
adults and children ran to greet the Voyager group.
"Greetings from Tellaria, Captain Janeway!"
She was greeted by a middle aged man.
"Minister Kemrit," Janeway addressed him. "May I
introduce Mister Tuvok and Mister Paris?"
Kemrit nodded politely to the two men, and they returned the
gesture.
"And this is Naomi Wildman," Janeway said.
Naomi extended her hand to Kemrit. "How do you do, Minister
Kemrit?" she greeted him, using her very best manners.
He shook her hand and smiled, then motioned for one of the boys
behind him to step forward.
"This is Maytor," Kemrit introduced the boy.
Maytor was not much older than she. He was a tall, lanky boy with
raven black hair and captivating green eyes. He wore long white
pants, and a white vest. Naomi couldn't help but stare at
Maytor's muscular chest.
"Hi," Naomi greeted him.
"Would you like to come and play with us?" Maytor
asked.
Naomi looked to the captain for approval.
"May I, Captain?" she asked.
Janeway nodded. "Tuvok, go with her."
The Vulcan nodded and followed Naomi and the other children.
Maytor and the other children led Naomi and Tuvok to another
garden. Maytor pointed to the children one by one, and introduced
them.
"This is Remi," Maytor said, pointing to a nearly-ten
year old boy.
Remi smiled. "This is my sister Tirla and my brother
Aran," he said, indicating the two younger children flanking
him on either side. Aran seemed quite fascinated with Naomi's
forehead spikes, and kept staring at them.
"Why do that man's ears look that way?" Tirla asked,
looking up at Tuvok.
"He's a Vulcan. All Vulcans' ears look that way," Naomi
explained.
Tuvok simply stood there.
"Let's show Naomi how to play Vahnti!" Remi suggested.
The other children quickly agreed. Maytor looked at Tuvok.
"Will your friend play with us?" he asked Naomi.
"We need him to be in the middle."
Naomi looked at Tuvok. "Tuvok, will you play with us?"
she asked.
Tuvok standing there with his arms behind his back, raised an
eyebrow, but did not object.
"So how do we play?" Naomi asked.
"We'll show you," Maytor said.
The children began running around Tuvok in a circle, but stopped
and looked at Tuvok.
"You must also turn," Maytor instructed Tuvok. "In
the opposite direction."
Tuvok didn't look too happy, but nodded. "I will
comply."
The Vulcan began turning in a circle, and the children raced
around him in the opposite direction. Every once in awhile one of
them would tap Tuvok and yell out 'Vahnti'. Then everyone would
switch directions.
"Join us Naomi," Aran said.
Naomi shrugged, and joined in on the fun. She wasn't quite sure
what the object of this game was, but since the other children
seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, she figured she would
too. Ever so often one of the Tellarian children would reach out
and tap Tuvok while they ran. Naomi soon figured out that this
game was a variation of an Earth game she played with Neelix
called tag. Tuvok simply just stood there while the children
raced around him.
Two hours later, the children were playing an improvised version
of Kotis Kot that Naomi had taught them when Janeway and Paris
found them.
"Naomi, time to go," Janeway said.
"Oh, Naomi, please don't go!" Aran begged.
"Naomi can come back to play with you tomorrow,"
Janeway assured them.
"I'll be back," Naomi told them.
The children smiled, and bade their farewells to Naomi, and then
scampered off. Maytor smiled at Naomi, and then ran off as well.
Tuvok and Naomi accompanied Janeway back to the transport site
where Paris was waiting for them.
Janeway tapped her commbadge. "Janeway to Voyager, four to
beam up," the captain said.
"Acknowledged," the transporter ensign replied.
"Stand by."
****
Moments later, Voyager's transporter hummed to life, but
suddenly, an alarm sounded from one of the consoles.
"Wait a minute. There's a problem here," the
transporter ensign said. "I'm getting five patterns instead
of just four."
"Five?" Chakotay asked. "Is it possible we've
accidentally beamed up one of the Tellarans?"
The ensign shook his head. "I don't think so, sir. The
reading is human...and Ktarian!"
Chakotay looked baffled. There was only one human-Ktarian on the
away team...Naomi! There was nothing they could do to stop the
transport procedure. When Janeway, Paris, and Tuvok
rematerialized, they all immediately noticed that there were now
two Naomi Wildmans on the transporter pad. They were as baffled
as Chakotay was. The two Naomi's looked oddly at one another.
"Um...Captain?" one of them asked. They both were
obviously confused.
"Ensign?" the captain asked.
The ensign at the transporter controls worked his console.
"I don't see any sign of a malfunction, Captain," he
said. "I'm not sure what happened."
"I think we'd better get you both to sickbay," Janeway
told the two Naomi's. "Commander, would you inform Ensign
Wildman?"
Chakotay nodded.
Minutes later in sickbay, both Naomi Wildman's were being scanned
by The Doctor. Samantha was standing there confused and
bewildered.
"How did this happen?" she asked.
"We aren't sure. There was a transporter malfunction, but by
the time we realized it, it was too late to do anything about
it," Janeway explained.
"They are identical in every way, right down to their DNA
sequences," The Doctor said, studying his tricorder
readouts.
"You mean there's no way you can tell them apart?"
Samantha asked.
"I'm afraid not," he answered.
****
That night in the Wildman's quarters, Naomi and her twin were
still as confused as they were earlier, but it was now obvious to
Samantha that she'd have to take care of them both, at least
until they figured out what had happened.
"How come there are two of us, Mom?" Naomi asked.
"Harry thinks that something in the planet's atmosphere
caused the transporter to malfunction, but..."
"You mean I'm...an accident?" Naomi's twin interrupted
Samantha.
"No," Samantha insisted. "What happened was an
accident. You are not an accident."
"What's going to happen to me...to us?" Naomi asked.
"Won't it get confusing with two of us on the ship
now?" Naomi's counterpart asked.
"Well, I guess we will have to think of another name for
you," Samantha said. "How about Nicole? That's Naomi's
middle name."
The girl smiled. She liked that name.
****
Two weeks later, Nicole seemed to be fitting in quite nicely, and
had even started taking biology lessons from The Doctor, and
science lessons from Naomi's mother. One evening, Nicole, or
Nikki as she was called, was bored. She didn't find The Doctor's
lessons very exciting, and not even Kotis Kot was fun anymore.
She wanted to have some real fun, so she decided to go to
Engineering. She surprisingly had absolutely no trouble getting
there, and as soon as she stepped off of the turbolift, she went
straight to a console. However, before she could even push a
button B'Elanna spotted her, and was hovering over her in an
instant.
"Naomi, you know you aren't supposed to be down here without
your mother," she admonished the girl.
"I'm not Naomi," Nikki said. "I'm Nikki."
"Well, still...You shouldn't be down here. There are too
many things for you to get into. You'll have to leave,"
Torres said.
Nikki frowned. "Okay," she said sadly, and left.
There just wasn't much fun to be had on this ship at all.
****
That night at dinner, Nikki didn't look too happy. Samantha
noticed, and asked her what was wrong.
"I don't think Lieutenant Torres likes me," Nikki said.
"She made me leave Engineering yesterday when all I wanted
to do was just look around."
"Well, Engineering isn't exactly a place for children,"
Wildman said.
"B'Elanna doesn't even let me go down there unless I'm with
Mom or Seven," Naomi told Nikki.
"I have an idea. Naomi, why don't you show Nikki the
holodeck tomorrow," Samantha suggested.
Nikki looked confused. "What's a holodeck?"
"It's a computer generated environment," Naomi
explained. "We can create all sorts of programs."
Nikki was fascinated. She would definitely have to check out this
holodeck tomorrow. The holodeck did indeed prove to be quite
fascinating to Nikki. In fact, she spent all day there, and
Samantha had to practically drag her to bed. The next afternoon,
Nikki was just itching to return to the holodeck again.
"Naomi let's go to the holodeck again!" Nikki urged.
"I can't. I've got to go for my lesson with The Doctor
now," Naomi replied.
"Oh...Well, I want to go. I'll see you later."
Nikki shrugged and went off towards the holodeck by herself. When
she got there, she went inside.
"Computer, show me what Voyager's engineering room looks
like," Nikki requested.
Seconds later, the holo-grid was replaced by the simulated
interior of Voyager's engineering section.
"Computer, interface the holographic engineering controls to
control Voyager."
The computer chirped in response. Nikki smiled when she found the
console that controlled all of the turbolift sensors on deck one.
She could have some real fun with this! Randomly she began
pushing buttons and panels, blissfully unaware of what was about
to happen on the bridge as the result of her tampering.
****
The bridge turbolift doors opened to let Chakotay out, only they
decided at the last minute to close while the commander was only
halfway through them.
"Ow!" Chakotay cried as the doors closed around him.
His cries attracted the attention of nearly everyone on the
bridge. He backed up slightly, but only succeeded in getting his
face smashed by the errant turbolift. The doors continued
smashing first his ears, and then his nose, and finally
compressed his cheeks, causing his lips to pucker. By this time,
the melee had attracted the attention of the entire bridge crew.
"Perhaps the turbolift is malfunctioning," Tuvok
observed.
Janeway had to resist the urge to giggle at Tuvok's frank
assessment. All that they could see of Chakotay now were his
reddened, puckered lips and the tip of his nose poking out from
in between the doors.
"Mr. Kim, disable the bridge turbolift for Commander
Chakotay, please," the captain requested.
Kim nodded. "Aye, Captain."
Seconds later, the doors freed the commander, and he rubbed his
sore face.
"Are you alright, Commander?" Janeway asked.
"Yes, Captain," Chakotay replied, a little embarrassed.
****
Nikki was clearly enjoying her holodeck escapade as she pushed
button after button, not even realizing what she was doing.
Suddenly, a voice startled her.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" It was Torres,
or at least a holodeck replica of Torres, and she didn't look too
happy.
"Uh...Computer, freeze program!"
The computer complied.
"Hmmm..." Nikki thought for a moment, and then an idea,
so brazen...so bold popped into her head.
She chuckled as she worked the holodeck controls to alter the
program. Seconds later, Torres's uniform disappeared and was
replaced by a frilly, pink ballerina's tu-tu. A few seconds
later, a lovely piece of classical music began to play, and
Torres began dancing gracefully around the room in her new pink
get-up.
"Computer, increase program speed by...50 percent!"
Nikki ordered.
The computer chirped in compliance and the holographic Torres
began dancing around much faster. As Nikki surveyed her proudly
created chaos, she began guffawing at the sight of it all. She
laughed even harder when the dancing Torres began bumping into
consoles, but still continued to dance. In fact, Nikki was having
such a good time watching all of this, that she didn't even hear
the doors open, or Ensign Wildman come in. Samantha was clearly
taken aback by what she saw. The sight of Lieutenant Torres
dressed up in a ballerina's garb, and dancing about was nearly
enough to send the poor ensign into fits of laughter, but she bit
her lip and contained her giggles. Just then, the dancing replica
of Torres grabbed Samantha, and began trying to dance with her.
Ensign Wildman gasped. "Computer, end program! Naomi,
what...on earth is going on in here?"
"Uh...Hi, Mom!" Nikki said.
I think...we should go home now!" her mother strongly
suggested, and ushered Nikki out of the room.
Naomi, who was just on her way to the holodeck, nearly bumped
right into them.
"Hi, Mom...Hi, Nikki," Naomi said.
Samantha was looking sorely confused now. She looked at Nikki.
"Nikki?" Samantha asked.
"I'm not Nikki, I'm Naomi," Nikki said.
Naomi was beginning to look worried. "No you aren't! I'm
Naomi!" Naomi insisted.
Samantha looked at the both of them, and then touched her hand to
her forehead. "Oh, I'm getting a headache!" she
lamented.
****
Later that night, Nikki and Naomi were getting ready for bed.
"Why did you pretend to be me?" Naomi asked.
Because it's fun," Nikki said. "You should've seen what
I made Lieutenant Torres do in the holodeck today!"
Naomi wasn't at all interested in any of Nikki's shenanigans. She
turned out the light, and crawled under her covers. Nikki
however, was already laying plans for tomorrow's activities. It
would be a very eventful day indeed!
The following day in sickbay, Nikki was asking The Doctor about
literally every device in the room, and what it's function was.
She seemed particularly fascinated with a certain small item.
"What's this?" Nikki asked, pointing to a device on the
table.
"That is called an autonomous, self sustaining holographic
emitter. It makes it possible for me to leave this room and
travel all over the ship," The Doctor explained.
"Wow!" Nikki gasped. "Can it make every
holographic person do that?"
The Doctor nodded. "Yes."
Just then, Chakotay entered. His face looked slightly red and a
tad swollen.
"Commander, what seems to be the problem?" The Doctor
asked.
"I had a slight run in with a malfunctioning
turbolift," he explained sheepishly.
Nikki had to resist the urge to giggle. She waited until neither
of them were looking, and then quickly swiped the emitter from
the table, and ran off. She knew just what she was going to do
with it!
****
"Here, Flotter," Nikki said, handing him the mobile
emitter. "It's a present!"
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's a magic device that can take you outside this forest
to a really cool space ship called Voyager!" she explained.
"You stick it on your arm, and you can go anywhere with
it."
Flotter took it and stuck it on his arm. He slowly walked outside
the confines of the holodeck, and was in a long corridor. He'd
never seen anything like it. He began walking, gazing in wonder
at the new sights around him.
****
Suddenly on the bridge, the intruder alert sounded. Tuvok worked
at his security console.
"Curious, Captain," he said. "Security has
reported an alien lifeform on deck five with Naomi Wildman. It
appears to be wearing The Doctor's holo-emitter."
Just then, The Doctor called the bridge.
"Sickbay to bridge. Captain, someone has stolen my..."
"Yes, we know, Doctor," Janeway said. "Stand
by."
She motioned to Tuvok to go investigate.
The alien intruder, Flotter, was strolling about deck five
gawking at all the blinking panels. When an unsuspecting ensign
rounded a corner, he bumped right into her.
"Oh, I'm sorry...Flotter!" Samantha Wildman exclaimed,
a bit perplexed as to just exactly how Flotter could be standing
right in front of her. "How?" she started to ask, but
then realized that he was wearing The Doctor's holo-emitter.
"Oh, hi, Samantha! I was just exploring this fascinating
ship!" Flotter said. "Can you show me around?"
Samantha wasn't about to do that.
"Where did you get that?" Samantha asked, pointing at
the holo-emitter.
"Naomi gave it to me as a present!" Flotter said
proudly.
Moments later, Tuvok and a security team found Ensign Wildman and
Flotter in the corridor.
"It's ok," Samantha said, raising her hand up to fend
their phasers away. "This isn't an intruder."
Tuvok raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Samantha, clearly
searching for an explanation.
"He's a holographic character from one of Naomi's programs.
I found him wandering the corridor," she explained. "He
said that Naomi gave him The Doctor's holo-emitter as a
present."
Tuvok looked mildly annoyed at hearing about this security
breach.
"Computer, transfer the holographic character on deck six to
holo-buffer four," Tuvok ordered.
Seconds later, Flotter dematerialized leaving the holo-emitter
behind. Tuvok picked it up.
"I believe the captain will want to speak to Naomi
concerning this incident," Tuvok told her.
Wildman nodded. "So will I, Lieutenant! So will I!"
****
Naomi Wildman sat in a chair across from Captain Janeway's desk.
Her mother didn't look too happy with her.
"This is something quite serious, Naomi. Tampering with
ship's systems and stealing The Doctor's holo-emitter. I think
you know better than that," the captain said.
Naomi frowned.
"But, Captain...I didn't do it!" she said. "Nikki
was the last one playing the program, not me! I was with
Seven!"
Neither the captain or Naomi's mother looked very convinced.
"Naomi, you know better than to do things like this,"
her mother admonished her.
"But-"
Samantha held up a hand, silencing her daughter in mid-sentence.
"We'll talk about this at home," she said.
****
The next afternoon, Ensign Kim entered the Mess Hall carrying an
engineering kit. He'd been summoned by a very flustered Neelix
who'd told him to come down right away. Kim found the Talaxian
staring quizically at the replicator in the kitchen.
"Neelix, what can I do for you?" Kim asked.
"The replicator seems to be malfunctioning," Neelix
explained.
Kim began scanning the replicator with his tricorder.
"All it makes is hot, plain tomato soup and nothing
else," the Talaxian said.
Harry stopped scanning for a moment.
"Hot, plain tomato soup?" Kim asked.
Just then the replicator produced a bowl of hot, plain tomato
soup. Kim frowned.
"See?" Neelix said.
"I didn't tell it to do that," Kim said, confused.
Suddenly, the thermal array in the kitchen took a turn for the
worst. Several crew members gasped and ducked for cover as it
proceeded to vaporize an entire pot of some kind of mush that
Neelix had been slaving over all morning. Glops of a gooey,
paste-like substance spattered in every direction.
"Oh! My leola root oatmeal!" Neelix wailed as he rushed
over to the stove, albeit too late to save his oatmeal. "I
spent all morning perfecting the recipe!" He looked on the
verge of throwing a full blown fit.
Harry carefully peered out from behind the counter, and when it
appeared to be safe to venture out from behind it, he slowly made
his way into Neelix's kitchen. He took one step towards the
stove, and began scanning with his tricorder. The thermal array
was buzzing in an angry sounding monotone as Harry reached for
the controls to shut it off. Suddenly, it spewed more of the
oatmeal. Unfortunately Kim had nowhere to hide from the onslaught
of the sticky mess that erupted from the pot, and the slop caught
him square in the face. Recoiling, Harry Kim scraped some oatmeal
off of his tunic. The stuff was clearly in no better shape than
Neelix's kitchen was.
Janeway's voice suddenly came over the comm system. "Bridge
to Mess Hall, we just registered a massive power surge down
there. Is everyone alright?"
"Yes, Captain," Neelix responded. "I think the
only fatality was tomorrow's breakfast!"
"I see," Janeway's voice responded.
"This is going to be a long day!" Kim muttered as he
wiped himself off.
****
Nikki Wildman skipped along the corridor on deck seven on her way
to the holodeck. She really wasn't supposed to be there, as
Samantha had expressly instructed both her and Naomi to stay out
of the holodecks for awhile, but she just wanted to have a little
fun. Just a little, and then she'd leave. She entered to find the
Engineering room waiting for her.
"Hi, B'Elanna...Can I play in Engineering for awhile?"
Nikki asked.
"Sure!" Torres said. "Have fun!"
Oh, boy! Would she ever!
Nikki smiled as she skipped off to a console and began pushing
all kinds of buttons.
"Computer, locate Tuvok," she ordered.
The computer chirped in response. "Lieutenant Commander
Tuvok is in his quarters," the voice replied.
"Where exactly in his quarters is he?" Nikki asked.
"Lieutenant Commander Tuvok is entering his sonic
shower."
"Yes!" Nikki chuckled.
She entered a few commands into a console, and opened a one way
comm link to his quarters.
****
Just at that moment, Tuvok was stepping into his sonic shower.
"Computer," he ordered. "Begin sonic shower."
The computer chirped in response, but instead of producing the
steady stream of cleansing sonic rays, the shower sputtered a
bit, and suddenly spurted a sticky, brown ooze all over the
Vulcan. Tuvok, suddenly noticing the odd substance all over him,
raised an eyebrow.
"Computer, disengage sonic shower," he ordered.
Instead of stopping however, the sonic shower only produced more
of the brown slime. It was getting all over the place now. In
Tuvok's hair, in his ears, and even in his mouth. The onslaught
of sticky ooze finally stopped, only to be replaced by an
explosion of hundreds of white feathers that stuck to him like
glue. Being the ever placid Vulcan, he simply stepped out of the
shower, calmly picked up a towel, and tried his best to wipe
himself off. After several minutes, he looked no better off, and
decided that a visit the the captain was in order.
****
Nikki giggled loudly, and envisioned what Tuvok must look like
now. Just then, she got a brilliant idea, and ran off to a
replicator. She needed some super glue! A replicator in empty
crew quarters provided her with a big round tube of the sticky
substance, and she headed towards the cargo bay. Nikki had quite
a time trying to both hide the tube of glue, and look innocent to
passing crewmen, but surprisingly she managed not to raise
anyone's suspicions. In the cargo bay, she found Seven of Nine
regenerating in her alcove. She tip toed carefully up to the
alcove, and unscrewed the glue bottle's cap.
****
The ready room's door chime suddenly rang.
"Come in," Janeway said.
Tuvok entered, still covered with caramel and feathers.
Immediately upon seeing him, Captain Janeway looked shocked.
"I apologize for my disheveled appearance, Captain. My sonic
shower seems to be malfunctioning," he explained.
"I...see, Mr. Tuvok. What is...that?" she asked.
"My tricorder identified it as Ktarian caramel sauce,"
he answered, looking at Naomi. "The feathers are from an
ancient Earth fowl known as a goose."
Janeway was admittedly speechless.
"Perhaps Lieutenant Torres should run a diagnostic check on
the sonic shower system in my quarters," Tuvok said calmly.
"That...sounds like a good idea," Janeway said, trying
not to laugh.
Samantha entered Astrometrics where Naomi was working with Seven
of Nine.
"Naomi, let's go home," Wildman said.
Her daughter looked confused. "But why?" she asked.
"I think you know why." She herded Naomi out the door.
"Let's go, young lady!"
"But, Mom-"
"March!" Samantha ordered sternly, pointing towards the
turbolift.
Naomi frowned and bowed her head sadly, but complied.
****
Captain Janeway couldn't help but giggle just a little as she
entered the bridge from her ready room. Naomi had certainly
livened up everyone's daily lives recently. Just then, the comm
system came to life.
"Doctor to Captain Janeway."
"Go ahead, Doctor," the captain said.
"Captain, it appears that someone has...assaulted Seven of
Nine while she was regenerating," he said.
"What?" she said, shocked. "How?"
"She appears to have been...glued to her alcove," he
said. "And I must admit that I am having trouble freeing
her."
"Glued to her alcove?" the captain asked incredulously.
"And I thought I'd heard it all," she added softly.
****
"Doctor, I insist that you remove me from my alcove! My
regeneration cycle is complete!" Seven demanded, trying to
wriggle free.
"I'm doing my best, Seven. Just try to stay still," he
said, scanning her with a tricorder.
Seven heaved an indignant sigh, signaling her annoyance.
On the bridge, everyone was guffawing and laughing hysterically.
Tom Paris was laughing so hard at the helm that tears were
spilling down his cheeks. Try as she might, Captain Janeway just
could not regain her composure. The thought and mental image of
Seven glued into her alcove was just too much for her self
control to handle. No one else on the bridge seemed to have much
luck containing themselves either. Finally, Janeway managed to
stop laughing.
"As you were!" she ordered the rest of the bridge crew,
and their laughter obediently diminished.
The captain sat in her command chair, and pretended to busy
herself at her console, but the image of Seven glued to her
alcove soon got the best of her again, and she burst into
laughter. Of course this only prompted everyone on the bridge to
start laughing even louder than before, and when an ensign
actually started to hyperventilate, he had to be carted off to
sickbay.
****
Nikki and Naomi sat on the couch in their quarters staring across
to a very unhappy looking Samantha.
"Girls, I want a truthful answer. Which one of you glued
Seven into her alcove and made Tuvok's sonic shower
malfunction?" she asked sternly.
Naomi frowned, but Nikki couldn't help it and let a little giggle
slip out. Samantha gave her a look.
"Nikki..." she said.
"Nikki, why are you doing all of these things?" Naomi
asked, in tears.
"I just wanted to have some fun on this boring ship,"
Nikki said matter-of-factly. "I guess I might have more fun
down on Tellaria."
"Would you like to stay on the planet?" Samantha asked.
Nikki was silent for a few moments, and then nodded.
The next morning, after apologizing to all of the various
crewmembers she had tormented during her stay, Nikki was on her
way
to her new home on Tellaria. The children Naomi had played with
were thrilled that Nikki would be a permanent resident of their
homeworld now, and Nikki seemed happier there. Naomi had to admit
though that a secret part of her deep down inside was envious
that it was her counterpart and not her who had had all the fun.
She had always wanted to pull pranks on the crew...
Then again, they were a long way from home. Naomi knew that there
would still be plenty more time for pranks. She smiled a
mischievous grin, her mind racing with a plethora of ideas
inspired by her counterpart. "I think I'm going to miss
Nikki!"