20 in 20
Twenty drabbles written for starfleet_hq. All drabbles are Voyager themed, exactly 100 words in length and rated G.
1. Beginnings
The Delta Quadrant. Of all the places she had expected to travel whilst in Starfleet Janeway had not counted the other side of the galaxy as one of them. And she had certainly not considered having a bunch of terrorists make up half her crew. Her father had always said that weird was part of the job and that she could handle it. She wanted to believe that, but she was still terrified and trying not to throw up over her desk. I will get them home, she promised herself. No matter what it takes, I will get them home.
2. Middles
Chakotay sighed as he looked into the mirror and shrugged on his uniform jacket. Maybe it was Starfleet’s fault. Yes, that was it. He would blame Starfleet. It was their fault he was getting so complacent, so lazy. Or maybe he would blame Neelix. It could easily be his fault. Either way, he was not going to lay the blame at his own doorstep. He’d blame the Borg or alien possession if he thought he could get away with it.
It certainly wasn’t his own fault that he could no longer fit his old leather waistcoat over his middle anymore.
3. Ends
Her mother told her never to get a haircut because she was angry. Well, Janeway just had aliens performing medical experiments on her crew and had then nearly crushed her ship to make them go away. So she didn’t really think that she could be blamed for having chopped off most of her hair in a moment of madness. She’d intended to just take a few inches off the ends, but then she had kept going and now most of her hair was lying on her bathroom floor. Kathryn smiled. Tuvok thought she was reckless? Wait until he saw this.
4. Insides
Tom Paris leaned over the toilet bowl and threw up the remains of his dinner and what felt like most of his insides. He wouldn’t have even gone to the messhall for dinner if he hadn’t lost all those replicator rations playing cards. Who would have thought Megan Delaney had such a good poker face? And why couldn’t he have lost nearly a week’s worth of rations when there was something edible on Neelix’s menu? He leaned his face against the cool tiles of the bathroom wall and cursed the day Neelix decided to make this “Leola Root Appreciation Week”.
5. Past
Neelix knew people didn’t take him very seriously and that they looked down on him a little bit - even with their Starfleet ideals and high horses. But he didn’t care. He was happy here, happier than he’d been ever since his family died and he had started to live his life in a way he was not at all proud of. He had a shady past and didn’t want to share that with anyone. Captain Janeway had given him a new start and he wanted to embrace it fully. Time to look forward and keep the past where it belonged.
6. Home
Seven really wasn’t sure what the big deal was. She was sure she must have felt some sort of attachment to Earth before she was assimilated but now she didn’t really understand why everyone on board got so emotional over the concept of “Home”. The Doctor kept insisting that “Home is where the heart is” in that frustratingly cheery voice of his but Seven wasn’t sure where her heart was. She had told Janeway that Voyager was her collective now and the idea of Earth scared her. For Seven, home was not a place. It was a group of people.
7. Happy
Janeway sighed and closed her eyes as she lay back on the grass. She had spent a wonderful day with Michael, the picnic was delicious and she was happier that she had been in a very long time. She hadn’t been “the Captain” all day. She had just been “Katie O’Clare”. Katie didn’t have to command a lost starship; she wasn’t responsible for over 150 lives. Kathryn smiled as Michael lay his head on her shoulder and fell asleep. This is close to perfect. Then he started to snore and she remembered that he was a hologram. Her smile faded.
8. War
It had been an interesting morning. Neelix had found something in the database about an old Earth tradition called April Fool’s and people had been playing practical jokes on each other all day. The Captain was letting it all happen; Neelix insisted it was good for morale, so who was she to interfere? Besides, some of the pranks had been pretty funny. But then she had sat down on the bridge. She thought being the Captain would have granted her some immunity from the pranks. She was wrong. Tom called it a “Whoopie cushion”. Right, Janeway thought. This means war.
9. Loss
Kathryn Janeway signed off the letter she was writing and put the PADD onto the coffee table. She hated doing this. Utterly hated it. She had a file full of these damn things; letters to the families of crewmen she had lost telling them that their loved ones had died. Letters she would send once they got into range of the Alpha Quadrant. For Janeway, these letters were simply the concrete proof of yet another person she had failed to get home; another person to whom she had failed to keep her promise. Please let us get home soon. Please.
10. Love
Dark, strong, reliable and trustworthy. All words Janeway would use to describe her one true love - the love that had seen her though her worst times in both the Alpha and Delta Quadrants, the thing she could always cling to, the thing that reminded her that there was something to rely on, no matter how weird the situation they were in had become. But it now it was over; she was saying goodbye for the last time and no matter how much it hurt, she knew it was for the best.
She was going to have to give up coffee.
11. Alcohol
The Doctor sighed and raised one eyebrow. “Would you like to tell me what happened, Mr. Tuvok?” He asked as Tuvok carried an unconscious Harry Kim into sickbay. “Do not panic, Doctor. Ensign Kim is merely suffering the residual effects of the Vulcan nerve pinch I was forced to administer while we were on the planet.” The Doctor was stunned. “The Vul... what happened down there? I thought it was a diplomatic gathering!” Tuvok placed Kim on a bio bed and stood up ramrod straight.
“Mr Kim should not be allowed to imbibe too much alcohol. It makes him... antisocial.”
12. Hustle
Tom Paris thought she couldn’t play pool huh? He might have created this bar programme but she wasn’t the dried up stuffy captain he thought she was - even if that was the image she was projecting right now. She asked Commander Chakotay for his “stick” and inwardly smiled at the sympathetic faces of the crew - bless her, she doesn’t know any better was the general vibe they were giving off. Well Kathryn Janeway had managed to learn a thing or two in her time at the academy. Time to show them. She bent over the table and took her shot.
13. Collective
Kathryn Janeway let the doors to her quarters close behind her, fell to her knees onto the carpet and sobbed until she couldn’t breathe. She was so angry at the Doctor for emotionally blackmailing her the way he had; putting that child in her arms and then asking her if she was still going to use the pathogen against the Borg children. Didn’t he realise she didn’t have a choice? Her crew would always come first; it was as simple as that. No matter how much she wanted to take that child in her arms and never let her go.
14. Lizards I
Janeway put her head into her hands and closed her eyes. She had done some stupid things in her time but this was a big one. Granted, she had been a weird lizard... thing at the time, but she had still had sex with her pilot. It had been a very strange few days. She’d always wanted children but to have them with her helmsman, whilst they were both super evolved or whatever the hell had happened to them... She took a deep breath. It was time to go and talk to Tom. If she was embarrassed, he was mortified.
15. Lizards II
Tom Paris didn’t want anyone to find out. Ever. He knew it wasn’t really his fault, that there was a scientific reason he had gone crazy for a few days, but he had still kidnapped the Captain and had baby... creatures with her. That had to go down as a bad thing on your record, right? How would he explain that to his father if they ever got home? He wasn’t sure Harry would ever look at him in quite the same way again. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to look the Captain in the eye again.
16. Command I
Harry sighed and shifted in the Captain’s chair. This was great. He was trying hard not sit with a stupid grin all over his face, if he was honest with himself. He was sitting in the Big Chair. This was it. He was in command of the bridge! Yes, it was the night shift, yes it was a very quiet part of space, but he was still in command. And on a ship with zero chance for career progression, that was a very big thing. He asked the helm for a status report. I could definitely get used to this.
17. Command II
After his time in the Captain’s seat, the Doctor decided maybe developing his programme to include the Emergency Command Hologram would not be the best idea. Being the Captain had turned out to be an awful lot scarier than he had thought it was going to be; even if he had only done it for twenty minutes. It was fun to daydream about being in charge, but he wasn’t sure he wanted the kind of responsibility that Captain Janeway had. No wonder the poor woman drank so much coffee; he’d probably have a caffeine problem too if he were Captain.
18. Command III
It was on days like this when Janeway wanted to give up and let someone else be the Captain for a change. When they had fought yet another alien who wanted to kill them for no reason; days when they had come very close to losing even more crewmen to this awful quadrant. It was days like these when the burden of command became too much and she just wanted to curl up and make it all go away. But she would keep going. It was her fault they were here and she would have to live with her decision.
19. Hope
Janeway didn’t know who he was but she could kiss Reginald Barclay. Maybe she would, when they got home. It was people like him who made her believe that they would get home one day; and one day might be sooner than she thought. But mostly she was just happy for Tom Paris. She had seen the look on his face when he heard his father speak, the look he thought he was hiding. Tom may have his differences with his father, but he still wanted to hear that his daddy was proud of him. Thanks to Barclay, he did.
20. Holodeck
Tom got back to his quarters and took off his leather jacket. This was it. No more Captain Proton adventures after today. Having to let the Captain see that programme was just embarrassing. Although she had looked good in that dress. And he could think of a certain half Klingon who might look good in that dress too... as his thoughts started to take an entirely more pleasant turn than his earlier embarrassment, Tom started to think maybe he had been too hasty. Maybe he would keep the programme after all... it could be pretty fun, with the right people...
1. Beginnings
The Delta Quadrant. Of all the places she had expected to travel whilst in Starfleet Janeway had not counted the other side of the galaxy as one of them. And she had certainly not considered having a bunch of terrorists make up half her crew. Her father had always said that weird was part of the job and that she could handle it. She wanted to believe that, but she was still terrified and trying not to throw up over her desk. I will get them home, she promised herself. No matter what it takes, I will get them home.
2. Middles
Chakotay sighed as he looked into the mirror and shrugged on his uniform jacket. Maybe it was Starfleet’s fault. Yes, that was it. He would blame Starfleet. It was their fault he was getting so complacent, so lazy. Or maybe he would blame Neelix. It could easily be his fault. Either way, he was not going to lay the blame at his own doorstep. He’d blame the Borg or alien possession if he thought he could get away with it.
It certainly wasn’t his own fault that he could no longer fit his old leather waistcoat over his middle anymore.
3. Ends
Her mother told her never to get a haircut because she was angry. Well, Janeway just had aliens performing medical experiments on her crew and had then nearly crushed her ship to make them go away. So she didn’t really think that she could be blamed for having chopped off most of her hair in a moment of madness. She’d intended to just take a few inches off the ends, but then she had kept going and now most of her hair was lying on her bathroom floor. Kathryn smiled. Tuvok thought she was reckless? Wait until he saw this.
4. Insides
Tom Paris leaned over the toilet bowl and threw up the remains of his dinner and what felt like most of his insides. He wouldn’t have even gone to the messhall for dinner if he hadn’t lost all those replicator rations playing cards. Who would have thought Megan Delaney had such a good poker face? And why couldn’t he have lost nearly a week’s worth of rations when there was something edible on Neelix’s menu? He leaned his face against the cool tiles of the bathroom wall and cursed the day Neelix decided to make this “Leola Root Appreciation Week”.
5. Past
Neelix knew people didn’t take him very seriously and that they looked down on him a little bit - even with their Starfleet ideals and high horses. But he didn’t care. He was happy here, happier than he’d been ever since his family died and he had started to live his life in a way he was not at all proud of. He had a shady past and didn’t want to share that with anyone. Captain Janeway had given him a new start and he wanted to embrace it fully. Time to look forward and keep the past where it belonged.
6. Home
Seven really wasn’t sure what the big deal was. She was sure she must have felt some sort of attachment to Earth before she was assimilated but now she didn’t really understand why everyone on board got so emotional over the concept of “Home”. The Doctor kept insisting that “Home is where the heart is” in that frustratingly cheery voice of his but Seven wasn’t sure where her heart was. She had told Janeway that Voyager was her collective now and the idea of Earth scared her. For Seven, home was not a place. It was a group of people.
7. Happy
Janeway sighed and closed her eyes as she lay back on the grass. She had spent a wonderful day with Michael, the picnic was delicious and she was happier that she had been in a very long time. She hadn’t been “the Captain” all day. She had just been “Katie O’Clare”. Katie didn’t have to command a lost starship; she wasn’t responsible for over 150 lives. Kathryn smiled as Michael lay his head on her shoulder and fell asleep. This is close to perfect. Then he started to snore and she remembered that he was a hologram. Her smile faded.
8. War
It had been an interesting morning. Neelix had found something in the database about an old Earth tradition called April Fool’s and people had been playing practical jokes on each other all day. The Captain was letting it all happen; Neelix insisted it was good for morale, so who was she to interfere? Besides, some of the pranks had been pretty funny. But then she had sat down on the bridge. She thought being the Captain would have granted her some immunity from the pranks. She was wrong. Tom called it a “Whoopie cushion”. Right, Janeway thought. This means war.
9. Loss
Kathryn Janeway signed off the letter she was writing and put the PADD onto the coffee table. She hated doing this. Utterly hated it. She had a file full of these damn things; letters to the families of crewmen she had lost telling them that their loved ones had died. Letters she would send once they got into range of the Alpha Quadrant. For Janeway, these letters were simply the concrete proof of yet another person she had failed to get home; another person to whom she had failed to keep her promise. Please let us get home soon. Please.
10. Love
Dark, strong, reliable and trustworthy. All words Janeway would use to describe her one true love - the love that had seen her though her worst times in both the Alpha and Delta Quadrants, the thing she could always cling to, the thing that reminded her that there was something to rely on, no matter how weird the situation they were in had become. But it now it was over; she was saying goodbye for the last time and no matter how much it hurt, she knew it was for the best.
She was going to have to give up coffee.
11. Alcohol
The Doctor sighed and raised one eyebrow. “Would you like to tell me what happened, Mr. Tuvok?” He asked as Tuvok carried an unconscious Harry Kim into sickbay. “Do not panic, Doctor. Ensign Kim is merely suffering the residual effects of the Vulcan nerve pinch I was forced to administer while we were on the planet.” The Doctor was stunned. “The Vul... what happened down there? I thought it was a diplomatic gathering!” Tuvok placed Kim on a bio bed and stood up ramrod straight.
“Mr Kim should not be allowed to imbibe too much alcohol. It makes him... antisocial.”
12. Hustle
Tom Paris thought she couldn’t play pool huh? He might have created this bar programme but she wasn’t the dried up stuffy captain he thought she was - even if that was the image she was projecting right now. She asked Commander Chakotay for his “stick” and inwardly smiled at the sympathetic faces of the crew - bless her, she doesn’t know any better was the general vibe they were giving off. Well Kathryn Janeway had managed to learn a thing or two in her time at the academy. Time to show them. She bent over the table and took her shot.
13. Collective
Kathryn Janeway let the doors to her quarters close behind her, fell to her knees onto the carpet and sobbed until she couldn’t breathe. She was so angry at the Doctor for emotionally blackmailing her the way he had; putting that child in her arms and then asking her if she was still going to use the pathogen against the Borg children. Didn’t he realise she didn’t have a choice? Her crew would always come first; it was as simple as that. No matter how much she wanted to take that child in her arms and never let her go.
14. Lizards I
Janeway put her head into her hands and closed her eyes. She had done some stupid things in her time but this was a big one. Granted, she had been a weird lizard... thing at the time, but she had still had sex with her pilot. It had been a very strange few days. She’d always wanted children but to have them with her helmsman, whilst they were both super evolved or whatever the hell had happened to them... She took a deep breath. It was time to go and talk to Tom. If she was embarrassed, he was mortified.
15. Lizards II
Tom Paris didn’t want anyone to find out. Ever. He knew it wasn’t really his fault, that there was a scientific reason he had gone crazy for a few days, but he had still kidnapped the Captain and had baby... creatures with her. That had to go down as a bad thing on your record, right? How would he explain that to his father if they ever got home? He wasn’t sure Harry would ever look at him in quite the same way again. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to look the Captain in the eye again.
16. Command I
Harry sighed and shifted in the Captain’s chair. This was great. He was trying hard not sit with a stupid grin all over his face, if he was honest with himself. He was sitting in the Big Chair. This was it. He was in command of the bridge! Yes, it was the night shift, yes it was a very quiet part of space, but he was still in command. And on a ship with zero chance for career progression, that was a very big thing. He asked the helm for a status report. I could definitely get used to this.
17. Command II
After his time in the Captain’s seat, the Doctor decided maybe developing his programme to include the Emergency Command Hologram would not be the best idea. Being the Captain had turned out to be an awful lot scarier than he had thought it was going to be; even if he had only done it for twenty minutes. It was fun to daydream about being in charge, but he wasn’t sure he wanted the kind of responsibility that Captain Janeway had. No wonder the poor woman drank so much coffee; he’d probably have a caffeine problem too if he were Captain.
18. Command III
It was on days like this when Janeway wanted to give up and let someone else be the Captain for a change. When they had fought yet another alien who wanted to kill them for no reason; days when they had come very close to losing even more crewmen to this awful quadrant. It was days like these when the burden of command became too much and she just wanted to curl up and make it all go away. But she would keep going. It was her fault they were here and she would have to live with her decision.
19. Hope
Janeway didn’t know who he was but she could kiss Reginald Barclay. Maybe she would, when they got home. It was people like him who made her believe that they would get home one day; and one day might be sooner than she thought. But mostly she was just happy for Tom Paris. She had seen the look on his face when he heard his father speak, the look he thought he was hiding. Tom may have his differences with his father, but he still wanted to hear that his daddy was proud of him. Thanks to Barclay, he did.
20. Holodeck
Tom got back to his quarters and took off his leather jacket. This was it. No more Captain Proton adventures after today. Having to let the Captain see that programme was just embarrassing. Although she had looked good in that dress. And he could think of a certain half Klingon who might look good in that dress too... as his thoughts started to take an entirely more pleasant turn than his earlier embarrassment, Tom started to think maybe he had been too hasty. Maybe he would keep the programme after all... it could be pretty fun, with the right people...