Disclaimer: The characters are all Paramount’s except Kymyr and Kymyra. I’m not making any profit off this story.
G
Summary: Voyager resues an alien mother and baby who are critically injured off a planet filled with radiation. Slight J/C
Captain
"Captain, I’m detecting a distress call." Ensign Kim’s voice came from Ops. behind Captain Kathryn Janeway’s left shoulder. Janeway looked over at Harry as she stood to face him.
"Source?"
"The nebula," said a puzzled Harry, "But I don’t understand how we’re receiving it. Sensors still can’t penetrate the nebula."
"Tuvok, put us on yellow alert." She turned towards Tom Paris at the helm. "Take us in." She tapped her combadge. "Chakotay, please report to the Bridge." The Captain returned to her chair, but did not sit down. A tired, but alert Chakotay came out of the turbolift. Stifling a yawn he went to stand by Janeway. She smiled, amused by his tousled hair.
"We found a distress call coming from the nebula. Sensors still can’t penetrate it."
Chakotay nodded his understanding, not trusting himself to talk for fear of yawning. It was 0200 hours. Suddenly something made the ship rock. Everyone was thrown off balance. "Report!" called Janeway as she regained her footing.
"That was a sonic wave off the port bow."
"Source?"
"Unknown." came the reply from Ops.
"Captain, there is a planet ahead of us. The waves are coming from its atmosphere," said Tuvok from tactical.
"Lifesi-," Janeway was cut off as another violent wave hit the ship.
"Two, very weak."
"Beam them directly to sickbay. Harry, Tuvok, find out what-" She was cut off by yet another sonic wave. Consoles exploded. Everyone was thrown to the floor. Chakotay got to his feet and barked, "Everyone, begin numbering off!"
"Tactical"
"Ops"
"Helm"
"First Officer"
Silence.
"Captain? Kathryn?" Chakotay found her crumpled underneath the command chair. She was unconscious and badly burned. It looked as though she had been near an exploding console.
"Emergency beam out to sickbay!" As Kathryn shimmered away in the transporter beam Chakotay turned to Tom. "Get us out of here. Then get down to sickbay and help the Doc. Damage report?"
"Minor casualties on all decks. Plasma conduit explosions on decks 4-8 and the Bridge."
"Engineering to the Bridge." B’Elanna’s voice came over communications.
"Report." replied Chakotay.
"Engineering is undamaged. We just have a mess of scorch marks and flying PADDS. How’s the Captain? Tom contacted me on his way to sickbay."
Chakotay’s response was grim. "I don’t know. I’m going to check on her and our guests." AS he strode to the turbolift he said absently, "Tuvok you have the Bridge."
In sickbay the Doctor was working hurriedly on his three patients when Tom came in. "Mr. Paris please get to work healing the Captain’s burns." said the Doc handing Tom a dermal regenerator. Tom got to work without his usual sarcasm. He glanced over at the other occupied biobed and stopped abruptly.
"Who or what is that?"
"This," said the Doc, gesturing at the unconscious woman on the respirator, "Is Kymyr. Her daughter is in a neonatal unit."
Tom stared openly at Kymyr. It was like someone had just decided to mix Alpha and Delta Quadrant species together. He saw traces of Klingon, Cardassion, Talaxion, Bajoran, and Human. He snapped out of it and worked on the still unconscious captain’s burns. "Are you gonna wake her, Doc?" he asked, referring to Janeway.
"No. Goodness knows how I’ve tried to get her to rest. If this is the only way so be it."
Chakotay walked in. He was thrown for a moment by Kymyr’s appearance, but quickly regained his composure. "Doctor?"
"Come into my office Commander." Chakotay followed the Doctor into his office and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. "The Captain is suffering from 2nd degree burns on 50% of her body and a mild concussion. I’m letting her sleep it off. No doubt she will wake up and charge to the Bridge, but that can’t be helped. As for the woman and her baby…"
"What baby?"
"She’s in a neonatal unit. If I may continue?" Chakotay sat back in his chair and sighed. "The woman was wearing what seemed to be a dog tag. It had an information chip embedded in it. I downloaded the files and found that some could only be accessed once she was no longer living. The files I were able to access were general information. Her name is Kymyr. Her baby is only a day old."
"What about their physiology?"
"Their appearance is a result of interspecies breeding. I’ve found Klingon forehead ridges, Betazoid empathic powers, Cardassian gills, Bajoran nose ridges, and Talaxion spots. Most everything else is Human. They also have an extraordinary memory capacity.
"Kymyr is suffering from radiation poisoning, but the child is not. Because of the mixed heritage, I can’t easily treat her. The only thing I can find wrong with the infant is a low oxygen intake. I have both on a respirator. The best I can do for all three of them is wait and let them sleep. They are in no immediate danger." Chakotay couldn’t hold his yawn back this time. "I suggest you do the same Commander. You are hereby relieved of duty until 1200 hours tomorrow. Go to bed."
A weary Chakotay rose from the chair and retreated to his quarters not forgetting to add, "Good night Doc."
Kathryn Janeway slowly opened her eyes. Sickbay. She was in sickbay. Slowly she propped herself up on one elbow. Her head ached horribly. "Computer, time?"
"The time is 1000 hours."
Janeway groaned and laid back down on the biobed. She put a hand to her head. It hurt so much! "Computer activate EMH."
"Good morning Captain. Did you sleep well?"
"What’s Voyager’s status?" she asked, ignoring his comment.
"Voyager is fine except for a few cuts and scrapes. How is your head? You took a nasty fall on the Bridge from what I’m told. This hypospray should help."
"What I need is coffee."
"I wouldn’t recomme-"
"Computer deactivate EMH." With an annoyed look, the Doctor shimmered into the air. Slowly Janeway got off the biobed and walked to the replicator. "Coffee. Black." She took a sip of the steaming liquid and sighed. A rustling noise behind her made her turn around. Kymyr was awake. She was motioning for Janeway to stop the respirator.
Kathryn knew she should activate the Doc, but she felt she could trust this strange alien woman’s judgment. She disconnected the respirator and waited. "Hello. My name is Kathryn Janeway. You’re on my ship; the Federation Starship Voyager."
"Kymyr. You trust me completely despite my appearance, but you still have many questions. All of them will be answered in time."
"Are you telepathic?"
"Empathic. So is my baby."
"Baby?"
"I believe your doctor has her in a neonatal unit?" Kymyr sounded unsure of her wording. She had never heard of a neonatal unit.
"What’s her name?"
"I’ve given her no name yet. She was born one day ago."
Janeway crept into the temporary neonatal unit the Doc had set up and her heart stopped. A small baby was lying in an incubator. Most people would have thought her to be ugly with all of her mixed heritage. Not Janeway. After replicating two more blankets to keep her warm, she scooped the baby up into her arms. Cooing gently, she brought her to Kymyr. She knew she really should active the Doc, but she wanted to talk to Kymyr alone. As she was walking towards Kymyr, Chakotay walked into the doorway, but he stopped when he saw the three patients awake. Quietly, he left. Kathryn tried to give Kymyr the baby, but she indicated that she should hold her. Kathryn felt her Captain’s Mask falling, but it was already half off the minute she saw the baby. The baby yawned and snuggled closer to Kathryn. Subconsciously she started swaying to rock the baby. Kymyr sat up and began her story.
"We were not always like this." she said gesturing to herself. "We were once very different.
"Our planet was called Talar 4. It’s atmosphere was rich in carbon dioxide so all life on the planet needed it to survive. My species developed the ability to shape shift at will. We longed to make contact with other species, but the nebula prevented our sensors from penetrating it. We can only guess how many species avoided the nebula because of the sonic waves that our atmosphere creates.
"About 50 years ago our atmosphere started oxidizing. There was more oxygen than carbon dioxide and we were slowing suffocating with all the plants and animals. There was a widespread panic among my people. Some became violent and there was a riot at the sensor lab. The sensor configurations were scrambled and disrupted in the fight, but that turned out to be exactly what we needed to penetrate the nebula that encircles our planet. We could now observe others for a great distance. We couldn’t communicate to our disappointment. We discovered your Federation of Planets in the Alpha Quadrant and started observing you and another race in the Delta Quadrant. Information was gathered on the different species and soon we had formed a plan. We would shape shift into different oxygen breathing species to survive our planet’s atmospheric changes. Many chose to become Human because of the similarity in our planet’s geography and conditions to Earth. Some chose Cardassians, others chose Klingons, and a few chose Talaxians, the Delta Quadrant species. There were also Betazoids and Bajorans. Our appearance is a result of inbreeding.
Only one side effect was noticed. We could no longer shape shift. It was a minor setback for many people, but eventually they accepted it. We could now live in our new oxygen planet. New plants and animals emerged and we began getting back into our old, but slightly modified routine.
A few years ago we began finding radioactive materials underground. Soon testing began on them for use as an energy source. The tests were successful and we began the extraction process. However, about a month ago our atmosphere once again began changing. Oxygen began diminishing faster than ever. All projects were abandoned as scientists struggled to find a way to send a distress call. One of them found a way to send it with our new radioactive energy. It would only send a signal out every six hours, but it would send. Once again we had an unforeseen side effect. The radioactivity leaked and started poisoning our water and air. I was able to avoid the radiation leak on a distant island I was visiting. The radiation was spreading fast and had just reached the island when she was born." said Kymyr, nodding her head to the sleeping baby in Janeway’s arms. "Our children have a stronger immunity to things when they are born, but prolonged exposure to radiation would have eventually killed her, too. I was afraid she would die before she got a chance to live."
Exhausted with telling her tale, Kymyr leaned back on the biobed and closed her eyes. Suddenly her back arched in pain, a contorted expression on her face.
"Activate EMH!" cried a horrified Kathryn.
"-Having caffeine-"
"Doctor!" Quickly the Doctor dropped his lecture
"She’s not responding to treatment." he said, his face falling.
"Kathryn," Kymyr gasped out. "Take my baby. Raise her here on Voyager." Seeing her panicked look Kymyr reached over and grabbed Kathryn’s arm. "Please."
"I- I promise." With teary eyes, Kymyr caressed her baby’s face softly one last time before falling back on the biobed.
"I’m sorry," said the Doctor. Sensing that the Captain needed a moment alone, he said, "If you’ll excuse me for a minute. I’ll leave you two alone." as he left for his office.
For a moment Kathryn just stared down at Kymyr’s lifeless form. Then came the tears. It started as a single lone tear, streaking its way down her face. One tear became two, three, four, then five tears. The baby began crying, startling Kathryn.
"Oh!" Quickly she wiped away her own tears, sniffling in a most uncaptain-like manner. Walking around the room she tried to calm the wailing baby. Figuring she was hungry, Kathryn walked over to the replicator. "Infant supplement 4A." That was the formula B’Elanna used for Miral. Holding the bottle in one hand and the screaming infant in the other, she began rocking the baby as she walked. She made her way to the far corner of sickbay and sat down cross-legged. Propping the baby up on one arm she began feeding her the bottle. "Computer dim lights."
"Its just you and me now." The baby looked up at Kathryn with teary blue eyes "I only knew your mother for a few short minutes, but it felt like a lifetime. She wants me to take care of you, you know. I don’t know much about babies or kids, but I will do my best." As Kathryn became calmer, so did the baby. Soon they were both asleep, Kathryn from her injuries and exhaustion and the baby from a full stomach. That was how Chakotay found them, huddled in a corner with the lights dimmed and the Doctor standing guard.
Captain Janeway took a deep breath and stepped onto the small platform. For a moment she just stood there, looking at her senior staff and friends. Tom was holding Miral, his daughter, and B’Elanna was holding Kymyr’s daughter. Kathryn hadn’t named her yet. Her gaze shifted to Chakotay and Tuvok. Chakotay looked sad and Tuvok looked even more solemn than usual if that was possible. Harry, Seven, Neelix, and Sam and Naomi Wildman were also present, looking downcast.
"I knew Kymyr for only a short while, but it seemed like forever." The baby in B’Elanna’s arms started whimpering, feeling all the sadness in the room. "She told me the story of her people. How they longed for contact with others and were thrown many setbacks. But they kept going." At this point both Kathryn and the baby were crying. Kathryn regained her composure. "In a way, Kymyr’s story reminds me of our own. Instead of making contact, we seek our home. We’ve had our share of setbacks, too, but we’ve made it through the Borg, Hirogen, and our original Maquis/Starfleet division." The baby was wailing away by now. Chakotay stepped over to B’Elanna and silently took the baby into his arms. He rocked her gently and miraculously she stopped crying. She snuggled into Chakotay’s arms much like she did when Kathryn held her. For a moment Kathryn stared at Chakotay with an unreadable expression on her face. Then she continued. "Right before she died, Kymyr asked me to take care of her daughter. I know a little about children from Naomi and Miral," she said throwing them a small smile, "But I wasn’t prepared to take responsibility for this little baby. She needs love that I wasn’t sure I could give and still be the captain. But I saw the pleading in her eyes and I couldn’t refuse. This woman had a power over me that I still don’t understand. She made me trust her the moment I saw her and her beautiful daughter." She smiled sadly at the sleeping baby in Chakotay’s arms.
"Kymyr didn’t give her daughter a name. She left that task to me. I knew I would never be able to let go until I named her. I’m finally ready." She walked over to Chakotay and carefully took the sleeping infant into her arms. "May I present Kymyra Taya Janeway. Rest in peace, my beloved friend."
"Captain Janeway, please report to sickbay." Kathryn sighed and put down her coffee mug. She was relaxing for a minute after the funeral in her ready room. Chakotay was watching Kymyra. He had been a big help and she needed to ask him something. He loved Kymyra like his own daughter.
She tapped her combadge. "I’m on my way Doctor." She stepped out of her ready room. "Tuvok, you have the Bridge." As she stepped into the turbolift, Kathryn started worrying. What if something had happened to Kymyra? Silently she willed the turbolift to go faster. When the doors finally parted she ran through them, nearly knocking down Ensign Wiggins. She burst through sickbay doors, panting. It seemed her fears were confirmed when she saw Chakotay talking to the Doc with Kymyra in his arms. Rushing over she cried, "What’s wrong?" as she scooped up Kymyra.
"Nothing is wrong exactly…" said the Doc. "It’s more of an inconvenience. The restricted files I found in Kymyr’s dog tag were accessible after she died. However, you need a certain fingerprint combination to open them. I’ve tried many combinations, but none have worked. I’d like to try the Commander’s, Kymyra’s, and yours if you don’t mind."
"Lets do it."
The Doc got the dog tag and showed where they were to place their fingers. Chakotay placed his finger on the dog tag and Janeway did the same, holding a sleepy Kymyra’s finger to it too. The dog tag started glowing and held itself up in the air. Startled, Janeway backed up a few steps. The dog tag started changing shape. A holo-emiter fell to the floor. Chakotay reached sown to touch it, but before he could a hologram started projecting. It was Kymyr!
"Greetings Kathryn Janeway." Kathryn was confused. When did Kymyr have time to create this holoprogram? "There were many aspects of my species I was not able to tell you. I have programmed them into this information chip. Among other things, my species can perform multiple mind activities at once. While I was telling you my tale of Talar 4, I was also creating this program. My identification chip would only let you access this file if my daughter, her mother, and her father fingerprinted it." At this Janeway and Chakotay looked at each other with a mixture of shock and confusion. "Allow me to explain.
"When our children are born, they form a bond with their parents. One part of it is empathic. The child and parent’s feelings are connected at all times. Normally the mother and father could sense the child and the child could sense the mother and father, but in your case only my daughter will be able to sense you."
You may also have noticed that when other people hold her she will not stay calm for long. When a child is born he or she is immediately placed next the mother and father’s hearts to form the bond. Sometimes they can be choosey and refuse to be held in anybody’s arms except the parent’s for the first year. When my daughter was born I released her from my bond in hopes that someone would rescue her in time. The first man and woman who held her would become her bonded parents. Kathryn, you held her first. You and whoever is next to you are now parents."
The last time I touched my baby girl, I also transferred my memories to her so the parts of my life I could not tell you would be remembered. When she is 16, the memories will resurface. You will need to help her deal with this experience. It can be traumatic, but I have faith in you and my baby girl." The holographic Kymyr walked over and gently kissed Kymyra on the forehead. "Goodbye little one."
If you need to replay the message, press your fingers to keypad." And with that Kymyr vanished.
"If you need me I’ll be in my office." came the Doc’s voice from behind Kathryn and Chakotay.
Kathryn looked over at Chakotay. He was staring at Kymyra. As if in response, Kymyra woke up and started screaming. Once again Janeway rushed over to the sickbay replicator to get a bottle for the baby. When Kathryn started feeding her Chakotay walked over and asked, "May I?"
Kathryn smiled her crooked grin and surrendered Kymyra. Chakotay began rocking Kymyra and singing a Native American lullaby in a foreign language Kathryn had never heard before. When he finished Kymyra was asleep once more. He glanced over at Kathryn and saw tears in her eyes.
"That was beautiful Chakotay."
"My mother used to sing it to me when I was little."
Kathryn leaned back against the wall. "Its ironic. I was going to ask you something, but Kymyr beat me to it. I was going to ask you to be Kymyra’s adoptive father."
Chakotay reached over with his free hand and grasped Kathryn’s arm. "Do you mean that?"
"Yes. I can’t raise her alone. I need you Chakotay and no protocol or Starfleet regulation is going to stop me."
"I was hoping you’d say that." He reached over and gave her a one-armed hug. "What are we going to tell the crew, Mommy?"
"I think, Daddy, the truth would be the best." As they walked out of sickbay, arms around each other, Kathryn remarked with a grin, "Tom is going to have a field day with the betting pools."