| "Naomi Renee Wildman! I thought I told you to go to bed!" Sam hollered through the thin wall separating the forward and aft sections of the Delta Flyer. "Mom, I have a weird feeling that something bad is going to happen when I am asleep," her daughter replied. "Look sweetheart, nothing bad is going to happen. Commander Chakotay is at the helm." "That is what I am worried about." "The Captain is there to make sure that he doesn't crash us. Don't worry." "Ok, goodnight Mom." "Goodnight Sweetheart," Sam replied as she tucked in and kissed her eight-year-old daughter on the forehead. Sam slowly made her way toward the forward section of the ship. "How is Naomi?" Kathryn Janeway asked. "Asleep. She said she was having a weird feeling that something bad was going to happen while she was asleep." "Was she worried because our number one shuttle crasher is piloting our ship?" "I think that that was part of it." "Hey, I try not to be so bad. And I haven't crashed a shuttle in three months," Chakotay jumped in trying to save himself. "Wow, three months, give you the United Federation of Planets Medal of Honor," Kathryn teased. "Just shut up, Kathryn." There was a sudden hiss as some blue gas began to slowly fill the aft section. "Chakotay!” "It's the Serilium. It's leaking into the anti-matter reactor." *Warning! Computer systems are exposed to Serilium gas. System failure is imminent. It is recommended that this vessel be landed in order to shelter the life support system.* “You heard her, Chakotay. Find us a rock to land on.” Chakotay punched in several commands and heard a hiss as the Serilium was released into space. “Got it. Class M moon 16,000 kilometers off the port bow. Uninhabited,” Sam announced from the science station. “That works,” Chakotay answered as he steered the ship sharply to port. “Be careful, Chakotay. Looks like we’re in for some rough weather. I‘m reading Ion storms down there, and it’s the only safe place to land on the whole damn thing,” Kathryn answered. Naomi walked sleepily out from the aft section, rubbing her eyes clear of sleep. She glided up behind her mother, and no one noticed she was there. They were all concentrating. “Sam, I’m reading an overload in the science console. Get away from it,” Chakotay hollered not even looking up. Sam moved away without looking. Naomi had not moved. Kathryn managed to see her, and darted to knock her out of the way. The console exploded and Kathryn took the explosion, while shielding Sam and Naomi with her body. She flew into the wall of the Delta Flyer, and landed, unconscious on the floor. Chakotay looked back in time to see Kathryn’s burnt body slide to the ground. Half of him wanted to run to her side and cradle her in his arms, the other half of him told him to land the ship and keep everyone alive. He listened to the reason half of him and guided the shuttle carefully through the storms. It set down quietly and gently on the planet’s surface. As soon as he finished the engine shut-down procedure, Chakotay rushed to Kathryn’s side with a med-kit. A scan with it’s medical tricorder showed multiple 2nd degree burns on her left side, and a few cracked ribs on her right side from the wall impact. Painful, but not life-threatening. “Is she alright?” A worried Sam asked clutching her daughter close to her body. “Several minor injuries, but nothing too serious. Her burns are the worst though. Hand me that dermal regenerator, will you?” He asked. Sam rummaged though the kit until she found the little miracle healer. She handed it to Chakotay, who in turn passed it slowly up and down his best friend's left side. “I wanna help, too!” protested Naomi. “Alright, replicate a bowl of water and a towel. Then use the towel on her forehead.” He knew that would make no difference whether she felt better or not. All it would do is get her wet, but at least Naomi thought she was important. “Sam, get started on a homing beacon for Voyager to lock on to. It’ll be at least three days before they even detect it and another week before they get here at warp eight. It looks like we’ll be here a while.” “Aye, Sir.” ~*~*~ “I’m hungry!” Naomi exclaimed several hours later. “Me too. Commander, are we just going to use the replicator the whole time we’re here?” Sam replied. “We shouldn’t. That would put a serious drain on our energy reserves. We should try to find some native food. Naomi can come with me, and we’ll find dinner. How does that sound, Squirt?” “Great!” Chakotay had taken to calling Naomi, Squirt, and she started calling him Chief. Whatever she called him, he didn’t really mind. He loved the little girl and thought it would be the closest he ever got to children of his own. As they walked through the thick mass of trees and underbrush looking for edible plants, the tricorder alerted Chakotay that they were no longer alone in the forest. Something rather large was showing up on sensors about fifty meters behind, and it was following them. There’s your story starter. Good luck. The winner of the story starter contest will have their finished story posted in an archive as well as second and third place. I don’t think I’ll have an honorable mention this time. But those three (or depending on ties, more) will definitely be posted. Good luck, and happy writing. E-mail me with your entry please. Thanks, as always for entering!!! |
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