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The
Final Frontier
by
Darcie Hambleton
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"She's dead Jim...er... Captain"
Waves of disbelief flashed throughout
Captain Kathryn Janewway, of the U.S.S Voyager. Samantha
Wildman had
died in a transporter accident. How was she going
to tell Naomi? Who was going to take care of her
daughter
Naomi? This was probably the worst possible thing
that could happen on this already terrible day. Janeway
closed
her eyes and rubbed her temples in desperation
and sorrow. Who was going to take Ensign Wildman's place
in
engineering? Who was going to...it was all the
same, Wildman had done so much on Voyager, and now, in
death,
she couldn't do the vital things that kept
Voyager alive.
Naomi Wildman fidgeted the whole walk to
The Captain's quarters. What did she do? Was she in
trouble? Intuition
told her it was neither of those, and told her
that Ensign Wildman was in trouble. Had something
happened to her
mother? Naomi told herself not to think about it.
Finally, Naomi rounded the bend in the corridor,
and found herself
staring at the door. She closed her eyes, and
hesitantly, reluctantly, knowing this was bad news, she
hit the
door chime.
"Enter," Janeway said.
"Captain?" Naomi asked.
"Naomi...." Janeway's voice
was full of emotion...scary.
"Am I in trouble?" Naomi
asked hesitantly.
Janeway’s face melted, and Naomi could
see fierce emotion in her captin’s eyes.
"No...oh Naomi...you're not in
trouble."
Janeway embraced Naomi lovingly... not a
good sign.
"Naomi," Janeway spoke up
again. "Your mother..."
Naomi knew that tone of voice, and how
those words could be related. She wanted not to listen,
so badly.
Janeway continued, painfully slowly.
"...was in a transporter
accident earlier."
"Is she ok?" Naomi's voice
was loud.
Captain Janeway shook her head. Naomi knew
that this was not a good thing. Definitely not a good
thing.
"Naomi....." Janeway began
several times, but her words where whispered, until,
finally, she spoke loud enough
for Naomi to hear: "She...
didn't survive"
The words attacked Naomi full force like a
stab to the heart. Dead? How could she be dead? Naomi
had just seen
her that morning...The tears came without the
half K'Tarian consciously noticing, then the whimpers
came, and
then, she collapsed in Captain Janeway's arms,
crying, and on the verge of screaming at the top of her
lungs until
she could make no more sound. She decided against
it though, for the sake of the Captain's ears. Soon,
she
quieted, but didn't dare let go of Janeway. She
had never felt comfortable around the captain, she was
always
acting like some cadet out of academy who
appeared to think that if you didn't shout YES SIR! to
everything, it
would be off with your head...that's how Naomi
had acted around Janeway previously, but now, she was
crying in
her captains arms, feeling that this was the only
place she ever wanted to be. And Naomi Wildman would
never
see her mother again.
****
I think I'm dead. Samantha
Wildman thought. Yes, I most certainly am dead.
Though, the thought didn’t provoke any
emotion from her at all. For all her life, she had
actually feared death,
which was, of course completely normal for a
human being without a mental problem, or a deep, deep
faith in God,
now...she feared nothing in her future. She was
so busy contemplating not feeling fear, a small little
thought had an
opportunity to stealthily sneak into her plain of
thought: What about Naomi? Her daughter...now she was
alone,
well, save for Neelix. Naomi was only three years
old...and an orphan.... Reassuring herself that Naomi
was in the
best of hand with the Voyager crew, Sam forced
herself not to think of her child. She tried to
specifically identify
where she was...just in case. She knew that she
now was laying in a place of scorching heat. And from
that fact,
she didn't dare open her eyes.
She suddenly sensed someone moving towards
her, and he spoke, in a voice raspy with age and
illness.
"I have something you may
need," the voice said.
****
Naomi sat on her bed, she hadn’t bothered
getting dressed when had woken up, and now it was
afternoon. She
knew she would get dressed eventually, but no one
else was around to tell her what to do anymore.
Everybody else
was on duty, and she was too depressed to go seek
someone out anyway. She stared at her feet, as she had
been
the entire day, as her mind was crying out for
her mother. She jumped when the door chime rang
throughout the
Wildmans' quarters. Naomi didn't respond as it
rang again, and again, then there was a series of bleeps
and beeps,
she knew it was Neelix. Finally, the pudgy
Talaxian overrode the entrance code and came running in,
completely
panicked.
"Naomi?" he asked
frantically.
She of course didn't respond. He soon
rounded the corner to her room, and found her, a
pathetic mess. He walked
over and sat down on the side of her bed.
"Naomi, you have to get out of
bed," he said.
"I don't want to and I don't
have to," was her firm response.
She curled back up in her bed, trying to be
in the tightest ball one could manage in humanoid form.
"Naomi..." Neelix coaxed
gently.
"I won't come out!, I won’t! I
won’t!" Naomi cried from under a thin blanket.
"Come on now..." Neelix
urged.
"NO!" Naomi yelled loudly.
Neelix sighed. "Naomi," he
muttered. "You can't just waste your entire life
curled up in bed; you have to face every
obstacle with aggression, you must endure
everything, and face the day with happiness, and never
let anything get
you down!" Neelix glowed when he spoke
those words.
"I'd rather stay in bed, thank
you."
She sniffed from under her blanket.
"Suit yourself, Flotter's gonna
be disappointed when I tell him you can't meet him at
the picnic he's been planning
for the two of you and Treevis."
"Flotter and Treevis are
holograms, and I can program them to do that whenever I
want."
She obviously wasn't going to be won over
easily.
"How about you come with me to
the mess hall and get some ice-cream?"
"I can get ice-cream from the
replicator, two inches away from me."
Actually it was more of two meters, but she
needed to prove her point.
"I'll tickle you if you don't
get up"
"Go right ahead" replied
the stubborn girl, to his...’threat’.
Neelix sighed again. What was he going to
do with her?
"Hey Naomi, why don't we-"
"I don't want to anything Neelix;
Just leave me alone!!" Naomi yelled coldly.
Neelix turned, and left. Naomi was alone
again, and the only person she had to talk to just left
through the twin
doors of Naomi’s quarters on Voyager.
****
"There's a ship right in our
flight path, Captain," Ensign Harry Kim reported,
from his Ops station.
"Take us out of warp, Mr.
Paris," The Captain of Voyager, Captain Kathryn
Janeway, ordered.
"Aye, sir, dropping out of
warp," reported Voyager’s pilot.
"Hail them," said the
Captain, curious of the new ship.
"Hailing frequencies open, audio
only," reported Kim.
Janeway took a step forward, as if the
person listening were right in front of her, as opposed
to out of sight.
"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway,
of the U.S.S Voyager, who might you be?"
There was a pause, static, and then a
response that could barely be heard.
"Captain, my vessel is damaged,
requesting assistance," was the reply.
The voice was raspy and harsh, but Janeway
could swear that there was a hint of a female voice in
it too...
"What exactly can we do for
you?" Janeway asked.
****
"Naomi, someone new is on board,
I believe it is the job of Captain's Assistant to greet
her," Neelix said.
"I don't want to," the
three year old Kt'arian/Human said.
"Please, Naomi..." Neelix
begged.
"No! I am never getting out of
this bed no matter what you say!!"
Half an hour later...
"I can't believe you got me out
of bed just to greet one person."
"She may be friendly, you could
use another friend right about now."
Neelix cursed himself silently for bringing
up the death of Sam Wildman. Naomi ignored the
comment....or, at
least she tried to ignore the ringing of the
words that echoed in her mind.
"But what if she's not friendly,
what if she hates me? What if..."
And they were there, the mess hall doors
opened. Naomi continued her argument silently in her
head, she at least
actually won this way. The alien lady sat in
another corner of the mess hall, Naomi walked up to her,
forcing the
best smile she could, under the
circumstances...Under the circumstances. Ugh! the
thought almost made her start
crying again. Naomi extended her hand.
"Hi, I'm Naomi Wildman, Captains
Assistant, would you like me to show you the rest of the
ship?"
The lady smiled back at her. It was in her
eyes, Naomi realized, her eyes, and who she reminded her
of. Naomi
turned her head away from the lady and regained
her composure, hoping she wouldn't notice the child's
sudden
urge to scream.
"I'm sorry Naomi, I don't need
to see the ship now," she gestured to the plate of
Talaxian leola root casserole.
Naomi didn't have any choice but to look
back into the lady's eyes when the alien turned her head
back around.
Those were her mothers eyes, those were her
mothers cheekbones. And Naomi knew that she would never
be
able to see a face like this again. She
suppressed a laugh created by the irony of it all.
"Goodbye," Naomi said
politely, knowing she needed to pull her gaze from her
again, but not wanting to; she just
wanted to stare at face
forever, let it shine in her memory forever.
****
Naomi was back in bed, despite Neelix's
protests, and, eventually, she got him to go back to the
mess hall. Now
she lay here, curled up, nice and warm. She heard
a strange chime, which grew louder, and louder. She sat
up,
and wiped the blankets out of her face, someone
was integrating right in front of her bed, but this was
no transporter
beam.
****
"Captain, intruder alert on deck
three," called out Lieutenant Paris from the helm.
"Pinpoint," the young
captain replied.
"Section..." his fingers
flew over his panel. "eight," he finally
replied.
"Naomi's quarters!" the
Captain exclaimed as she jumped out of her chair and out
into the turbo lift.
The ride was an eternity. It was the alien
lady! She had a phaser, and she was aiming at Naomi! The
three year old
squealed in terror as she approached, and shoved
the muzzle on Naomi's forehead.
"Help!" she muttered, as if
that would do her any good.
There was a haunted look in the woman's
eyes, they were clouded over, and gave the image of
possession.....and
bloodlust.... This only scared Naomi more,
especially since the lady's fingers were on the trigger,
and ready to pull.
Naomi heard a familiar hiss in the other room,
and soon the captain came into view from the doorway to
Naomi's
room. The K'tarian whimpered softly, the gun was
hurting her horns, and, also, if this lady was trigger
happy, even
the lowest setting of stun would kill.
"Get away from Naomi!"
Janeway commanded in a forceful tone, then what she said
next surprised Naomi the
most. "If you want to kill
someone, kill me."
The lady eyed her, nervously, Naomi saw her
lip tremble, and the look in her eyes as her brows
crossed and
retracted, and so forth.
"I came for Naomi." It was
the voice of Sam Wildman, but also the voice of an old
raspy man, all wrapped up in
one.
"Captain?" Naomi whimpered
as her eyes rolled up to the top to try to see the gun,
but only seeing fuzziness
because of the range.
"Why don't you let her go? I -
"
"No! I will not!"
"Why?"
"Just leave me alone, captain!
My business is my own!"
"Why would I do that, I
wonder?" Janeway asked, then added, “You can’t
just force yourself onto my ship, then
attempt to murder my youngest
crewmember! Who are you, and why do you need this
child?”
"Go away, Captain," said
the mixed voices of Sam and the crackly old man voice,
but when she spoke again, all
traces of Ensign Wildman left
the voice. "I need the girl."
"Why do you need her? You could
always take me. Captains are always more valuable in
hostage situations."
"This is not - "
"To you maybe not, but I see
differently about that."
The alien trader lady didn't notice Captain
Janeway pressing some buttons on the control panel
behind her back.
The alien trader didn't notice that Captain
Janeway had activated the transporter. She
disintegrated, leaving behind
her gun. Janeway ran over to Naomi and hugged
her, then hit her commbadge.
“Janeway to the Brig,” she said,
“you should have a new prisoner. I want her under
close guard until further
notice.”
The Brig officer acknowledged, and Janeway
closed the channel, still comforting Naomi in her arms.
Then Janeway
picked up the phaser to examine it.
"This was set to the highest
level of kill," she reported, making Naomi even
more queasy.
Later in sickbay, Janeway and the Doctor
had figured it out, going through sensor logs all night,
and searching
every file. They finally detected a small
interference, emanating from an unknown source. This was
affecting the
transporters, thus the accident. Then, it had
followed Ensign Wildman to sickbay, thus causing the
Doctor to say
'She's dead Jim' instead of Captain. It
was now believed that Ensign Wildman had
been...possessed by an alien
during the away mission, but nobody seemed to
have noticed...Janeway made a mental note to talk to the
other
away team members about that...
The Doctor had managed to concoct a
procedure that would literally pluck the alien life
force out of Ensign
Wildman, before the alien drained her, instead.
And, as usual, the Doctor had worked another miracle.
Sam
Wildman sat on the bio-bed, looking completely
flushed, but other than that, fine.
"Naomi will be happy," the
Captain observed out of the blue while Ensign Wildman
was getting scanned by the
EMH program. Wildman nodded her reply.
"I don't think she's going to
like me all that much after my attempt to kill
her," Sam said, with a depressed and
regretful tone.
"We'll have to see, won't
we?" was all the comfort Janeway could think of
giving her.
They had decided to surprise Naomi with her
mother's return. She wouldn't know until Wildman went
back to her
quarters. They could only hope they didn’t
scare the living daylights out of the child. Naomi was
curled up tight on
her mothers bed, burying herself in the warm
sheets, only scarcely aware now, that her mother
was...gone.
Then, she heard a familiar swish
noise, but when nobody made any sound, she dismissed it
as a hearing
problem. Then she heard footsteps. It's probably
Neelix, she thought to herself, then closed her eyes
again. Then,
someone sat down next to her.
"I'm not getting out of bed,
Neelix!" she said firmly.
"Nobody said I was Neelix."
Naomi jumped at the voice, the turned
around.
"Mommy!!!" she yelled, and
held her tight.
She knew that this was Sam Wildman, that
this wasn’t the...assassin...and that somehow
everything was going
to be alright. She didn’t know how, but she
just knew. And she would never let go, never. She
didn’t ever, ever, ever
want to lose her mother again! Sam Wildman
explained what happened, while Naomi clutched to her
tightly. Maybe
she could get out of bed after all.
Epilogue
Samantha Wildman was standing in front of a
large window in the mess hall. People buzzed around
behind her,
with conversation, and noise, the mess hall was
crowded, as it was lunch time. Someone approached her
and
stood beside her for a long while, she didn't
bother looking at whoever it was.
"We have not yet reached the
final frontier, have we?" Sam turned to see Captain
Janeway.
"What do you mean?"
"Death, death is the final
frontier, and though we've been taunted by it many
times, even before Voyager, we still
have victory over it."
"Yes, I suppose we do, don't
we?"
They stood in silence, until Wildman spoke.
“Captain?” she asked.
Janeway turned toward her, her face asking
the question, without her actually speaking.
So Sam continued, “When I....well, when I
thought I had died...I wasn’t afraid. I mean, it’s
natural for everyone once
in a while to fear death, but...I wasn’t
afraid, I just...felt at peace.”
There was silence so thick, one could cut
it with a knife for a few moments.
Then Janeway spoke, “Maybe there are some
things that... well... some things that are meant for a
Human being -
or any being- to figure out for
themselves...Why weren’t you afraid, Sam? Why are we
afraid in the first place?
Many will never know. And even more, will
just forget to wonder.”
Then Janeway left the mess hall, and
Samantha stood alone, and gazed at the stars,
thinking about recent
events, and her captain's words.
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