I tried to make it as understandable as possible for those who haven't seen the show. I'm adding the second chapter sometime today...

I'm A Chief Engineer... not a babysitter

Briefing Room- U.S.S Voyager 0800 hours

Stardate 54184.4


Captain Janeway's POV


I watched as the rest of the Senior Staff filed in for the 0800 meeting. As soon as they had all taken their seats I stood up. “Good morning everyone,” I said looking over all their faces. Commander Tuvok, Seven of Nine and the Doctor were the only ones who didn't look completely exhausted.


“Good Morning Captain,” Tuvok nodded his head.


“So....” Lieutenant Tom Paris chimed in. “Anything ready to blow up down in Engineering, or even better. Are the Borg going to attack?!” he asked slightly sarcastically with a hint of boredom. He was obviously exaggerating the fact that nothing interesting had happened lately on Voyager.


“Not that I'm aware of Tom,” I replied looking at B'Elanna Torres, Voyager's Chief Engineer. “Lieutenant?”


“Other than a few small problems with power on Deck 15 everything is operating at peak efficiency,” she noted looking up from the table. “And we have the power problem under control. Lieutenant Carey is working with Lieutenant Nicolleti to get it fixed right now,”


“Good,” I nodded. “Thank you Lieutenant,”


“What about you Harry?” Commander Chakotay, First Officer of Voyager asked Ensign Harry Kim. “Any Borg cubes within sensor range?” he smiled.


“Nope, sorry Tom.” he said grinning at Tom. “But.... there is some strange... well I'm not sure what it is but it has a massive gravimetric readings, literally five times higher than that of a small wormhole. There also seem to be quite a few gravimetric distortions that make it impossible to pilot Voyager anywhere closer than we are right now.” Harry recited.


“Then it should be possible to get the Delta Flyer in close enough to get better readings,” I suggested. “Commander Chakotay, will you get an away team together. You leave at 1200 hours.” I told him.


“Yes Ma'am,” He nodded.


“Alright. Anything else?” I asked looking around at all the others.


“Everything in Astrometrics is running according to Starfleet standards,” Seven of Nine, former Borg drone said.


“That's good, what about in Sick Bay, Doctor?”


“It's actually been quite empty the past few days apart from Seven of Nine, Mr. Paris and myself. Naomi Wildman was in yesterday for a small injury to her arm, nothing serious though,” he added quickly looking at a worried Neelix who was Naomi's godfather. “She would probably enjoy going on this away mission if it isn't anything too distracting. She's been cooped up too long. She would like to get out and see more of space,” he suggested looking at me.


“It's all up to Commander Chakotay,” I told him looking from the Doctor to my First Officer who was seated on my right.


“It's fine with me. Let her know Doc and I'll find something for her to do during the mission to be of use,” Chakotay smiled.


“Alright, well if that's everything, then dismissed,”



B'Elanna Torres POV


I stood up and walked out of the briefing room. This away mission sounded interesting, I'd probably end up convincing Chakotay to let me go, it didn't seem like they needed an Engineer for something like this. Tom walked up behind me.


“Where are you headed?” he asked.


“Mess Hall,” I notified him. “Want to come? Your duty shift doesn't start for another 45 minutes,”


“Sure. Like I'd pass up an opportunity to spend breakfast with you B'Elanna.” he smiled as we walked into the turbolift. Harry and Chakotay stepped in after us. “Deck 2,” Tom told the computer. Obviously Harry and Chakotay were headed to the Mess Hall as well, because they didn't object to this command.


“Are you three up to the away mission?” Chakotay asked as the turbolift started to move. That was something I didn't expect, but he probably knew how much I wanted to go, and there could easily be problems with the distortions that could damage the shuttle, in that case you would need an Engineer.


“Sure,” Tom smiled. He loved the Delta Flyer, he'd come up with the design and helped build it. So had I, for a short period of time, but thinking back on that period of time wasn't the happiest for me. I shook off my thoughts and looked at Chakotay. “Yeah, sounds fine to me.” I nodded.


“I'm up for it,” said Harry. Just then the turbolift opened. “Great,” Chakotay grinned. “See you at 1200 hours, shuttlebay one,” he stepped out of the turbolift and headed the opposite direction, apparently not heading for the Mess Hall as we were.


I nodded and started walking with Tom and Harry towards the Mess Hall.


“I wonder what concoction Neelix has come up with today,” Harry mused.


“As long as it doesn't have any Leeola root I'm fine with it,” Tom shuddered.


I smiled. “I think Neelix is addicted to that stuff, he uses so much of it,”


“No kidding. I'm just glad I have plenty of replicator rations,” Tom grinned. “Poker and pool are two of the best ideas I've ever had.” he tacked on the end to make a show of how he earned so many rations. I started laughed. “I'm glad you're so good at it, that's what gets me my dinner every night,” I told him as we entered the Mess Hall and headed over to the galley.


“Something actually smells really good,” Harry said with a surprised expression.


“Neelix, what's for breakfast today?” Tom called in. There wasn't an answer. “I guess he isn't back yet. I'm just going to get something from the replicator,” he sighed and headed over to the wall. I followed Tom to the replicator.


“Hmm.... Computer, two slices of toast with peanut butter,” Tom told the computer specifying his favorite breakfast. It materialized in the replicator and Tom took it and headed to a table where Harry was sitting waiting for Neelix. I walked to the table and sat down.


“Aren't you hungry B'Elanna?” Harry asked looking at the empty table in front of me.


“Actually, no not really....” I shook my head. “I guess I just didn't want to spend my day off alone. Of course I'll probably be called into Engineering for something they just can't fix without my help,” I rolled my eyes. “Sometimes I swear I'm the only Engineer who has any imagination as to how to fix a problem,”


“Interesting,” Tom commented. “I don't think this is Earth peanut butter. It tastes more like.... Mars peanut butter. It's got a little spice to it.” Harry laughed.


“Tom did you not just hear B'Elanna's rant?”


“What rant?” Tom asked.


I rolled my eyes again. “You are so unobservant Starfleet,” I used the nickname I used mostly for him, Harry, and Joe Carey.


“Proud of it,” he smiled and put his arm around my shoulders. “I know that's one of the things you love about me though,”


“Keep dreaming,” I smiled and hit him lightly on the arm. Just then the Mess Hall doors slid open and Neelix walked in accompanied by ten year old Naomi Wildman, the only child on Voyager. Neelix headed to the galley, -Harry then stood up to go get food- while Naomi headed over to where Tom and I were sitting.


“Hello Lieutenants,” she smiled. “Doctor told me about the away mission and that Commander Chakotay was in charge, I found him and he told me to talk to you because he was busy preparing.”


“Alright,” Tom smiled. “Sit down Naomi, this away mission is top secret. Nobody but the Senior Staff and you can know about it,” he whispered gesturing to the girl that she should sit. She eagerly sat down clinging to Tom's every word. “Now, before we start you have to promise not to tell anyone, not even your mom, alright?”


“Yes. Of course. I wouldn't even tell Neelix if it was that top secret,” she assured Tom. I tried my hardest to hold a straight face knowing that Tom was playing with her.


“Okay, well there's this anomaly that Harry found on sensors,” he started “The captain doesn't want anyone who isn't head of a department to know. You're the exception. There isn't really anymore to tell you considering that's all we really know. You just have to keep your lips sealed and watch all your movements. You never know when you're being followed,”


Naomi nodded and walked to the door slowly watching everyone around her carefully. I looked at Tom and laughed. “That was cruel! She's probably scared stiff that she's being stalked!”


“Hmm, maybe. But we'll tell her on the shuttle that it was just a joke. She'll be fine. She's a smart kid,” he smiled and kissed my forehead. “Don't worry about it,”


LATER THAT DAY-- 1150 Hours, Shuttlebay 1


I stepped into the shuttlebay with Tom so we could prep the Delta Flyer for the away mission. I stepped into the shuttle and headed to the Engineering console, Tom walked to the front and sat at the helm. He started the shuttle up while I finished up diagnostics on all systems to make sure we'd have no problems with anything that was avoidable. We finished up and waited for the others to arrive.


As soon as everyone was there and briefed on the mission, Tom told Naomi that what he had said earlier was a joke then he took his seat and cleared us for launch. Chakotay was at the Tactical console whereas Harry was at the Operations console. Naomi was sitting in a chair in between mine and Chakotay's consoles. I felt the shuttle lift into the air and we were off. “All systems operating normally,” I informed Tom.


“Great.” he said concentrating on the controls. He was the one who had insisted that the Flyer had to have manual controls. I shook my head. That just made it all the more challenging to pilot, I guess some people like challenge more than others though, which probably explained it. We went into warp immediately.


“Approaching destination,” Harry announced after a few minutes of silence.


“Good, that means I'm doing it right,” Tom joked.


“You'd better be doing it right Lieutenant,” Chakotay replied joking as well. “Because if you aren't and you get us killed..... my spirit animal will track you down and it won't be pretty,”


“Oh yeah, bring up spirit animals again. It's been years since you've spoken to anyone about those Chakotay,” I laughed. “Mine still hates me, he's really good at holding grudges,”


“They don't like people attacking them B'Elanna,” Chakotay laughed.


“Wait. Your spirit animal, whatever that may be, is male?” Tom asked.


“Jealous flyboy?” I asked laughing along with Chakotay.. “It's not like I was ever attracted to him. Like I said, I attacked him and tried to kill him,”


“That makes me feel much better,” he said sarcastically.


“I think Tom isjealous. I love seeing Tom jealous it's hilarious!!” Harry said starting to laugh too. “Alright, we're close enough to get some.... wow,”


“No kidding,” Tom stated in awe looking at the vale of colors surrounding the shuttle. “This is amazing,”


“Yeah, except one tiny problem,” Harry said with a slight hint of fear in his voice. “It's a spatial rift and we're being pulled in, it's too strong to get out using thrusters and there's no way to establish a stable warp field with these kind of graviton emissions.”


“So how do we get out?!” Naomi asked standing up. Tom was right, she was a smart kid.


“Don't worry Naomi. Tom's a good pilot. He'll get us out of this,” Harry told her trying to calm her down. His voice was full of fear now. There was no hiding it.


I looked down at the monitor. “This is impossible!” I growled. “That..... whatever it is happens to be draining all of our power. There's nothing about it that would indicate it should be having any effect that it is having on us right now, it just..... is.” I explained. “I can't stop it. We don't have enough power left to do anything but sit here and hope life support doesn't give out,”


“I'm getting some very strange readings,” Harry announced. “There's now a massive temporal rift opening right on top of where we're headed.”


“But that would mean it's either going to take us to the future or to the past,” Chakotay pointed out.


“Exactly. Which means we're in a whole lot of trouble,” Harry nodded.


“I still can't get the engines to respond!” I yelled out in frustration. “We're dead in space,”


“Our best chance is to drop a distress beacon, let Voyager know we're in trouble,” Tom suggested.


“Good idea Lieutenant,” Chakotay told him. “Computer, send a message to Voyager letting them know our whereabouts and all of our sensor readings,” he ordered. The computer chimed in recognition.


“At least it has enough power to do that,” Tom pointed out.


“We're going in,” Harry said gravely.


“B'Elanna! Get Naomi in the back, it should be safer there.” Chakotay ordered. I wasn't in the mood to argue with him. I stood up, grabbed Naomi's arm gently and led her to the cargo hold.


“Are we going to die Lieutenant?” she asked in a terrified voice.


I knelt down next to her. “I don't know Naomi. But don't be afraid, if there's any chance of getting out of this it will be with the people who are on this shuttle right now,”


“Brace for impact!” I heard Chakotay yell from the cockpit. I grabbed Naomi and dragged her to the locker that held the EV suits. She had started to sob at this point. I didn't know how to take care of children. I sighed and hugged her. “Shhhh. Everything will be okay. It'll be fine,”


I felt the shuttle make impact into the ground. We were both fine. The Flyer wasn't though. There was severe damage. It would take us quite a while to fix especially with just me. I didn't know if Tom, Harry and Chakotay were alright, I didn't have time to think about it either. I got Naomi outside and saw the others sitting by a tree. I walked over.


“Are you both alright?” Chakotay asked.


“Yeah, we're fine. How about you three?” I replied.


“Harry flew forward and is unconscious, we can't tell how serious it is. I was just about to go back in and gather supplies. You, Naomi and Tom stay here and watch for anyone curious enough to come investigate,” he told me as he walked over to the shuttle.


“Alright,” I nodded.


“I was so worried about you,” sighed Tom pulling me into an embrace. “I don't know what I would have done if you'd have died or even been injured. I'm worried enough about Harry, but you're my wife,”


“I'm fine Tom. I can take care of myself, but I was really worried about you too,” I said hugging him back.


“How are we going to get home?” Naomi asked.


“Where even are we?” I asked having missed the end of the journey.


“Earth, early 21st century. Chakotay is going to replicate some period clothing so we can blend in,” Tom explained.


“Well Naomi,” I sighed trying to answer her question. “I really don't know. But Captain Janeway won't leave us here. She'll get us out. I promise,”


((Don't worry, the Cullens are coming))