The Dream Quest (Part 1 of 5)

The Dream Quest Part 1
Written by Alexandra Siegel (SirenaUrbana11)
Star Trek: Voyager © Paramount Network Television and CBS Television Distribution
Featuring: Kathryn Janeway, Chakotay, B’Elanna Torres, Tom Paris, Neelix, The Doctor, Tuvok, Harry Kim, Samantha Wildman, Naomi Wildman
Setting: USS Voyager
Continuity: Season 5; some time after "Once Upon a Time"
Rating: PG

Part 1 of 5

The subspace wave had passed over Voyager after ten minutes, but the turbulence it caused made it seem like forever. The entire bridge crew was jostled.

“Report,” Captain Janeway ordered.

“There was minor damage on Decks 6 through 9,” Harry reported, “But there are no signs of a hull breach.”

“Janeway to Engineering”

*Torres here.*

“What’s the status of the warp core?”

*No damage to the warp core. Everything down here seems to be holding up. But we are going to run diagnostics just in case.*

“Proceed. Janeway out.” Janeway walked back to her chair. “Mr. Tuvok, scan the entire area for any more subspace waves.”

“No incoming subspace waves detected,” he reported.

Janeway was about to give another order when she heard the communication chime.

*Neelix to Janeway.*

“Go ahead.”

*Please report to Sickbay. Something’s wrong with Naomi!*

Janeway’s eyes widened as she felt her heart drop into her stomach. “On my way!”

She turned to Chakotay as she headed for the turbolift, “Commander, you have the bridge.”

“Aye, Captain," Chakotay answered. He shared her concerned for Voyager's youngest crew member, but he had his orders. She'd very likely fill him in later.



***


Kathryn made it to Sickbay as fast as she could.

Samantha rushed over to her. “Oh, Captain,” she answered, her voice filled with fear, “Thank goodness you’re here!”

Kathryn rushed over to the surgical bay, where an unconscious Naomi lay.

“Naomi?” Kathryn gently nudged her with her hand, but Naomi did not respond.

“I’m afraid I’ve tried every method possible to wake her, but to no avail.” The Doctor said as he walked in.

“What happened to her?” Kathryn asked.

“Naomi and I were having a chat about the nightmares she has been having for the past five days,” Neelix answered, “Then, when the ship shook, she took the standard safety precautions and hid under the desk. Once the shaking stopped, she screamed. But when I got to her, she was unconscious.”

Nightmares? Kathryn was instantly curious, but there was a more dire situation at hand.

“I’ll need to run some scans on her to determine what it is that placed her in this condition,” the Doctor said. “Captain, Neelix, I’m afraid you two will have to leave. Ensign, you can stay here as long as you let me work."

“Keep us posted,” Kathryn commanded the Doctor before turning to Samantha. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

As they left Sickbay, Kathryn asked Neelix, “When you said you two were discussing the nightmares Naomi’s been having, did she say what they were about? Anything I should know?”

Neelix hesitated, “Naomi originally didn’t want you to know, but seeing as now she’s possibly in danger, you might be the only one who can help her.”

Kathryn was confused, “What was it she didn’t want me to know?”

“Uhh…” Neelix didn’t know where to begin, “Perhaps we should discuss this in private.”



***



Once the duo made it to Ensign Wildman’s quarters, Neelix gave his captain a detailed recollection of Naomi’s nightmares as described to him.

“According to Naomi, in her dream, she was eager to start her first day as Captain’s Assistant, but then there was a man’s voice telling her that that was the worst idea because the captain of Voyager was a vicious monster who was responsible for making the lives of everyone on the ship miserable.”

Kathryn’s eyes widened in shock. "Did she believe that?”

“She didn’t want to, but then she was shown images that seemed to traumatize her to the point where she felt she had no choice but to believe what she saw.” Neelix looked down at the ground. “In one scene, you actually threw her out the airlock for no reason.”

“My God,” Kathryn’s stomach pinched. “What a nightmare! I’m the captain of this ship and I’m feeling sick to my stomach just hearing this. Real or not, it’s no wonder she suddenly decided to give up being Captain’s Assistant.”

One question plagued her mind. “Seeing that she has a vast memory and a big imagination for a child her age, how do you think she got the impression I was a vicious monster?"

"I don't know, and neither did she," Neelix answered sadly.

"It is common for a child in a starship to be somewhat wary of their captain because they see them as a god-like figure," Kathryn rationalized, "But I don't remember saying or doing anything that would instill that kind of fear in her."

"Nothing other than when she saw you in that standoff between the Jorgarzons last week in the mess hall," Neelix theorized.

"Those two Jorgarzons didn't want an alliance between Voyager and the Jorgarzon Council, so they tried to assassinate the Head Council Leader. Naomi accidentally bore witness to that."

"You weren't vicious at all, but it was tense. And given how sensitive Naomi is--"

"That could've done it," Kathryn finished. "I heard Naomi hyperventilating after I bid my well wishes to the other guests before they were escorted to Transporter Room 2. I should've said something to her, but she had already left. I wasn't aware of how much that scared her."

“Yeah,” Neelix answered glumly, “Samantha and I have tried explaining to her that you were just protecting everyone on the ship and that deep down, you are a very, very nice person. We even had Commander Chakotay give her his perspective of you, but we weren't certain that it helped.”

Kathryn looked down, a deeper sense of worry setting in. Like she would any member of the crew, she wanted Naomi to feel that she could count on her to get them out of any kind of trouble that was sure to come their way, even when she knew she probably wasn't the best leader of what became an entire starship community.

“But then today…” Neelix began

Kathryn’s ears perked, “What?”

“Just before the subspace wave hit, Samantha and I showed Naomi the video message you made for her when she was a baby, and she seemed to finally get the message. She actually told me that she was preparing herself to talk to you whenever you were available and possibly get to know you better. She felt terrible for avoiding you."

“How could she not?” Kathryn hung her head low, “She looks up to me, even though we both know I'm probably the worst role model she could have."

"Why do you say that?" Neelix asked in protest.

"How can a captain who gets her crew stranded in an uncharted part of the galaxy for almost five years even expect the ship's only child on board to trust her to make the best decisions? Hell, I won't be surprised if I get thrown in jail for all the bad choices I made once we return to the Alpha Quadrant."

Neelix put his arm around her shoulders, trying to reassure her. "Whatever you may have done in the past shouldn't necessarily reflect on what you need to do for her and everyone else here. Besides, not everything on this journey was bad. Look around, you made an excellent crew out of Starfleet crewmen and former Maquis rebels, gave a hologram meant for emergencies a life of his own, and freed a Borg drone from the Collective."

"And if all that hadn't happened," Kathryn deduced, "we wouldn't have met you and Kes and made you both an integral part of this crew."

"And you still have me," Neelix added, "and as long as I can help it, you always will. And right now, there's a little crew member who needs her captain"

A genuine smile formed on Kathryn's face. "You're right." She gave Neelix a hug. He was surprised by this uncharacteristic move, but he returned the hug eagerly.

"Everyone is depending on me to get them home, or at the very least, guide them through this life filled with uncertainty," Kathryn said as they parted, "I may not be the best leader, but what matters is that I don't lose faith in myself, so they won't lose faith in me. I also have to remind myself of all the people here who have stood by me throughout it all. Now, more than ever, Naomi needs my help in any way possible."

Neelix nodded enthusiastically.

"Now there's just one thing left," Kathryn said, "You said that Naomi was just about ready to talk to me about her nightmares, and then this happens."

"What about it?"

"I'm starting to think that something is not right," Kathryn answered worriedly.

Suddenly the comm signal chimed and the Doctor's voice echoed.

*Sickbay to the Captain.*

Kathryn tapped her comm badge, "Go ahead."

*I just finished my neural scans on Naomi and I found something you're not going to like.*

Kathryn and Neelix looked at one another with panicked expressions as they darted out of Ensign Wildman's quarters. "We're on our way."



***


Neelix could tell how scared Kathryn was feeling because once they reached the doors to Sickbay, she nearly pushed him out of the way.

"Report!" Kathryn ordered, nearly out of breath from running. She looked over to the office to see Tom trying to comfort a distraught Samantha.

The Doctor led Kathryn to the monitor where a map of Naomi's nervous system was displayed, his face showing his failed attempt to mask his grave concern. "I'm afraid that someone, or something, from our previous encounter has reared its ugly head and is now threatening Naomi's life."

Kathryn took one hard look at the monitor and was completely aghast at what she saw: a green cloud was cast over Naomi's entire brain!

"Please tell me that isn't what I think it is!" Kathryn's voice was filled with horror.

"I'm afraid it is," the Doctor said glumly.

Neelix looked at the monitor over Kathryn's shoulder. "What is that?"

The Doctor sighed, "It's a kind of alien life form. We didn't know exactly what to call it at first. We now call it the Coda. It invades the cerebral cortex. It actively resists any outside attempt to neutralize it. In the imminent moment of a person's death, the alien creates a hallucination and disguises itself as a loved one, possibly one who's deceased, and tries to convince the victim to cross into its own world, sort of like an afterlife."

Kathryn looked at a horrified Neelix, who clearly wasn't familiar with this particular life form. "Almost two years ago, the shuttle Commander Chakotay and I were in crashed onto an uncharted M-class planet ravaged by plasma storms," she told him. "I was critically injured and the Coda invaded my cerebral cortex. It created an alternate reality where I witnessed my own death and disguised itself as my father in an attempt to take me to its world."

"How did you survive?" Neelix asked.

"For a moment," Kathryn answered, "it looked like I wasn't going to. What the Coda showed me was realistic enough for me to almost believe it. Suddenly, my consciousness flashed and I could see the Doctor treating me with Chakotay and Tuvok watching. I could hear them telling me to fight it off, and that's when I realized what I was seeing wasn't real. The Coda was desperate, but it needed me to voluntarily surrender before it could kill me. And when I resisted, it eventually gave up, but not without warning me that once my time came, I would cherish it for a long, long time."

Neelix stared at her, unable to find a response to her story.

Kathryn turned back to the Doctor, "Doctor, the last time this happened, the Coda invaded me right when I was on the brink of death." She then looked at Naomi. "Was Naomi close to death?"

"No," the Doctor shook his head, "Besides what's been going on, she was perfectly fine. My other scans showed that she was nowhere near death."

Now Kathryn was confused. "Then why would it attack her in the first place?" She walked over to Naomi's side.

"I don't know," the Doctor answered sadly, "but we need to figure out how to stop it immediately. If we don't, given her current status, she will die sometime in the next twelve hours."

Kathryn could feel her heart filling with despair. "Oh, Naomi..." She held Naomi's hand in hers as she tried to fight off the urge to break down in tears.

To be continued…