Neelix hummed to himself as he prepared lunch for the crew in his new, self-designed kitchen that had actually been the Captain’s private dining room just a week or two ago. He was feeling fit and cheerful since his exploits with the Vidiians and the fact they had stolen his lungs, never mind that he now had one of Kes’s inside of him, breathing and doing its job. So long as it continued to do so, he probably wouldn’t mind, and in time would forget. Hopefully.
His adjusted his orange and multi-colored chef’s hat that draped gracefully over one ear and continued his preparation, chopping vegetables, stirring this and that, adding spices to dishes that were sure to please some people’s appetites.
Neelix turned to find two eyes peeking over the counter at him.
He almost dropped the bowl he was holding. Intense blue eyes, clear and huge, staring at him with a mixture of innocence and decisiveness over the edge of the black expanse separating the actual galley from the mess hall. He could make out brown hair atop a decidedly human face, considering that the tips of the ears were round, but that was about it.
“Hell…Hello there…” Neelix told whoever it was, bewildered. He set his utensils down and stepped around the counter, walking to come face-to-face with a human girl. His glittering orange eyes widened.
She was definitely young, that much was certain. Short and skinny, she stared back at him with a mixture of curiousity and edginess that Neelix hoped would go away; he was a gentle man, but of course she couldn’t know that. “Who are you?” he asked gently.
“Sara.” she told him in a childlike voice that was small but steady.
“Sara…I’m Neelix.” He held out a hand, tufted on the back and covered with black spots. She shook it gently. “What are you doing in here?”
She shrugged, looking around. He hadn’t seen her before – who’s child was she? Voyager didn’t have families, at least that’s what Captain Janeway had told him, was it possible she had been mistaken? He didn’t think so, but it could be.
“Where are your parents?” Neelix asked next.
Sara looked at him as though he’d lost his mind. He quickly amended his question. “Who takes care of you?”
“Me.” She answered him, not missing a beat.
“Well…um, ah…” His neck was starting to get stiff. Short for a Talaxian, he still towered over her. Gently he reached under her armpits and lifted her, amazed at how light she was – skin and bones – and set her on the counter. He noted that her clothing was somewhat clean but tattered, small holes appearing here and there, and almost draped over her body, hiding the ribs that had been felt under his forearms. “How old are you?” he asked curiously.
“Fifteen. Almost.” Sara scratched her nose.
Just then the door whooshed open and Kes strode into the mess hall, quickly coming over to the pair.
“And who is this?” her sweet, husky voice asked them. She smiled at Sara.
“This is…Sara.” Neelix was at a loss to explain her, still.
“Are you an elf?” Sara asked Kes innocently, who laughed again.
“No, I’m an Ocampa.” Kes’s smile faded into a look of concern. “What are you doing on Voyager?”
“I came with Chakotay. The Maquis.” Sara told them, as if that explained it all.
“And where do you work?” Kes asked.
Sara shrugged, and looked at them with a mixture of bewilderment and helplessness. Kes noted immediately that she wore no comm badge, almost a necessary thing aboard Voyager.
“I was just about to ask her if she was hungry, sweeting,” Neelix told Kes carefully. Sara still looked intently at Kes, deep blue eyes against lighter blue.
Suddenly, Kes appeared stunned, her eyes widening as her mouth dropped despite her better efforts. “I…I…”
“What is it?” Neelix asked her worried.
“She’s a telepath,” Sara told him.
“Humans aren’t, though…” It was Kes’s turn to be surprised. Neelix looked at Sara with suspicion.
“It’s not unheard of.” Sara told them both.
Neelix cocked his tufted head. “You’re a telepath?” he asked.
Sara nodded, chewing on a nail that Kes calmly and politely pulled out of her mouth.
“So what should we do?” Neelix asked Kes quietly.
Kes took in Sara’s disheveled appearance, hair tucked into a braid that straggled down her back to her waist, black high neck tunic-shirt that reached almost to her knees and pants with heavy laced boots, pale face with socketed blue eyes that stared out at the world holding shadows and rimmed in black. Sara made no move to stop her when she gently grasped around her body just above the waist, gingerly feeling ribs and bones protruding.
“The first thing, is to get her to sickbay so that the doctor can have a look at her,” Kes answered decisively. “After that, we’ll need to see the Captain.”
“Should I call and have them meet you?”
“Please,” Kes helped Sara down from the counter, though it wasn’t necessary. The girl made it in one leap. Kes, short for an Ocampan, was still taller than Sara. It made Neelix frown and wonder before he tapped his comm badge.
“Neelix to Commander Chakotay,” he said into it.
“Chakotay here, Neelix. What is it?” the commander sounded tired and weary, but Neelix pushed past it anyhow.
“Commander…are you…missing someone?” Neelix asked hesitantly.
“Excuse me?” Chakotay was most definately not in a good mood.
“I just met one of your Maquis members. A girl named…Sara.”
Sara! “Where is she, Neelix?” Chakotay’s tone had changed to curious.
“Kes took her to sickbay.”
“Is she all right?”
“She’s fine, Commander. Just a little…thin.”
“I’m on my way.”
***************
“What’s this about?” Captain Janeway asked him, quietly, as he hit his comm badge and stood, heading for the turbolift.
“One of my Maquis crew seems to have been forgotten about.”
“I don’t recall meeting anyone by that name,” she said.
“Probably because you haven’t. Would you care to join me, Captain?” Chakotay asked her.
“I’ll be down momentarily.”
“Aye, Captain,” Chakotay stepped into the turbolift and allowed the doors to close. He could have throttled himself, and almost did. How could he have been so stupid that he didn’t check up on her at least once, as he had with all of his people since they’d come on board the Federation ship in the midst of fire and terror.
************
“Hmm,” the doctor murmured as his wand passed over Sara, who sat silent and still on the diagnostic bed. Kes stood behind her, Chakotay off to the side, watching quietly. “When was the last time you had anything to eat?”
“This morning,” Sara answered him directly, not at all put out by his unending sarcasm and lack of compassion.
“And that was…?”
“Ration bar.”
“Why are you eating ration bars?” Kes asked her curiously.
“Because my replicator won’t work.”
“All right, let me ask again,” the doctor sighed and faced Sara. “When was the last time you had a real meal?”
Sara looked thoughtful, and then shrugged. Chakotay didn’t look pleased. So that’s how she’d been surviving then – ration bars. If she’d been alone for close to three weeks, it was conceivable that by now she knew the entire tube network that ran through Voyager.
“If it isn’t one thing, it’s another,” the doctor muttered, continuing with his scan, walking around the biobed. He stopped when he was at Sara’s back, passing his wand over and around her body, and his brows furrowed. He looked at Sara suspiciously and then back to his tricorder.
Chakotay and Kes noted the change in his expression, but said nothing.
“Well, you’re as healthy as one can be, for being malnourished. You’re not dehydrated, so I’ll assume you’ve been drinking plenty of water, or other fluids.” He loaded a hypospray and pressed it to Sara’s neck. “A nutrient supplement.”
“You’re a hologram, aren’t you.”
“That’s correct,” the doctor said tersely, walking around Sara’s body again, studying more blips from his tricorder.
“How did you know that?” Kes asked Sara.
“He doesn’t have a mind to read,” Sara told her frankly. “Holograms don’t.”
“Are you telepathic?” the doctor asked in shock. Sara nodded. “Good grief. Do you know how rare telepathic humans are?”
“Yes,” Sara said wearily, tucking her chin in her hand.
Chakotay stepped forward. “How are you feeling?” he asked her quietly.
She shrugged, gazing at him with impassive yet haunted blue eyes. For Sara, feeling was relative, and the way she felt didn’t matter much to her, as long as she could still function. She’d been known to work sick before.
“She’s in good health, surprisingly,” the doctor’s tone indicated disapproval as he took further readings, hoping to support whatever it was he was looking for. “I’ll do a full neurological test on her, when I have the time. Right now I’m afraid I can’t.”
The hiss of the doors admitted the Captain, who stared in dumbfounded amazement at Sara’s huge, deep set azure-blue eyes as the girl looked back at her steadily, haunted innocence shining in the irises while even more haunted shadows surrounded and penetrated the depths.
For moments she lost her voice. A child? That’s what Kes had found, a child?
“A belated welcome aboard,” she finally recovered. “I’m Captain Kathryn Janeway. What’s your name?”
“Sara.” The girl responded. She thought the Captain was beautiful, in a stern way of sorts – the normal authority that was exuded by all those that held power was certainly in no short supply with her. Long auburn hair pulled up into a topknot, blue-gray eyes and pale cheeks. The Captain wore makeup. Yes, Sara decided, she was pretty.
“Sara.” The Captain repeated, coming to the side of the biobed. “How old are you?”
“A question I was just about to ask,” the doctor put in, handing the instrument to Kes and feeling carefully along Sara’s neck.
“Almost fifteen.” Sara responded, adjusting herself on the bed, staring straightly and frankly at the Captain.
“I see.” For fourteen she was small. Too small. The Captain could make out bones that protruded in places. She turned to the doctor. “Malnourishment?”
“Evident.” The doctor replied promptly. “I’ve already administered a nutrient supplement. She’s apparently been subsisting on ration packs and the like. If this ship didn’t have replicator rations, I’d stuff her full of food right now.”
“Rations bear little consequence to the matters at hand, doctor,” Janeway went to the replicator. Before she could get anything, Sara stopped her.
“If you don’t mind, I’d rather have chicken than vegetable boullion.”
Janeway froze. Kes smiled. Chakotay looked discreetly amused. The hologram looked disconcerted. “How did you know…are you a telepath?” the Captain asked.
“Yes,” Sara responded with honesty.
The Captain proceeded to replicate a cup of the chickenbroth that Sara had chosen and handed it to the girl, watching her gulp down the liquid. “Thank you,” Sara was polite, handing the cup back and licking her lips.
“What have you done so far, doctor?” Janeway asked, going and replicating another cup. It wouldn’t hurt her; the girl was far too skinny.
“Just a preliminary physical, mostly finding and dealing with the effects of her development, or lack thereof.” The doctor’s tone wasn’t going to win any beside manner contests. “I was just about to release her…”
“Hold on, Doctor,” Janeway raised a hand. “I want some answers first.” She turned back to Sara, sitting calmly and sipping the soup at a slower pace than she had downed the first cup. “Sara, how long have you been a telepath?”
Sara shrugged. “I don’t remember.”
“You were just…born that way?” Janeway looked disbelieving. Sara nodded. “And you are a full telepath.”
“I suppose.” Sara had never had the definition of full or partial to rely on.
“You can read my thoughts.”
“Yes.”
“And everyone’s in this room.”
“With the exception of the doctor.” Sara was obviously intellegent, articulate. “Holograms don’t…”
“Have a mind to read, yes.” Janeway finished for her impatiently. “And can you speak telepathically?”
Yes, Captain, but it does cause others some…uneasiness.
Janeway turned pale. Chakotay allowed a grin to permeate his features, he knew exactly what Sara had just done. It earned him a glance. “You knew about this?”
“Yes, Captain.”
She turned from him. She’d deal with that later. “Can you sense emotions as well as thoughts?”
“Yes.” Sara paused. “But the…range…” she struggled for the right words, “is farther.”
“Explain.”
“I can sense emotions such as distress, tension, fear, or even deception at a greater range than happiness or love or contentment. To read the actual thoughts causing them I have to be in physical proximity.”
“So you can sense the thoughts of every person on this ship?” Janeway was aghast.
Sara looked thoughtful, eyes darted from side to side as she considered. “No, but I can on this level of the ship. Emotions are harder to describe…general feelings, fears…I can’t tell if one person is in danger as opposed to another.”
“And you were born like this.”
“I guess I was, Captain.” Sara said, as if it was the most natural thing in the galaxy to be born human and telepathic at the same time.
“What do you mean, you guessyou were?”
“I don’t remember being born.” At the anger that flared within the older woman, obviously thinking she was simply making a smart comment, Sara quickly continued. “I don’t remember anything before becoming a Maquis.”
“You don’t remember…” Janeway was shocked. “What happened to your parents? Your family?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
“Have you done a DNA scan, Doctor?” Janeway asked, her doubt quite evident.
The doctor passed over the tricorder. Janeway read the analysis herself, then transferred it to a larger monitor. The double-helix of human DNA and all its genetic markers spiraled neverendingly on the screen. There was no doubt about it, the girl was human. She turned back.
“When did you become a Maquis, Sara?”
“About a year ago.”
“I see…so that would make you, what, 13?”
“I didn’t join. We just found each other.” It seemed important to the girl that Janeway know Sara hadn’t been swayed in any way, that it was her own decision.
“Nevertheless…” Janeway looked thoughtful. She apparently thought better of what she was about to say, looking at Sara with flashes of sadness overlaying curiosity. “Doctor…do you have anything scheduled for tomorrow?”
The doctor shook his head. “Good. You’ll need to administer some tests, as well as a physical exam. I want a full medical history, as well as aptitude examinations and psychological profile. Down to the last detail. I’m sorry to trouble you, but you’re the only hologram for the job.” Janeway didn’t say that one of the reasons for using the doctor was to make sure of Sara’s honesty, but a neurological scan would prove that as well.
“Aye, Captain.” The doctor didn’t look pleased, but he didn’t look put out either.
The Captain turned to Sara. “You’re to report here at 0800 tomorrow. You’ll be tested and have a physical throughout the day. Right now I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Commander Chakotay. He’ll see to your needs, and provide you with what you need, including entering your replicator rations into the computer.” She paused and shot him a look over the girl’s head, which Sara suppressed a smile at. “The next time I see you, I want your clothes to be clean, your hair combed, and your stomach full of food. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Captain.” Sara regarded her numbly.
“Good. Doctor, when everything is finished tomorrow and you have the results of all tests, please inform me.”
The doctor inclined his head in acknowledgement.
“When will she be able to leave?” Chakotay stepped forward.
“Now. We’re all done here, for the moment. Do you have any questions for me?” he asked Sara.
“How much do I weigh?” she was curious. It earned her a slight smile from the Captain, who was also curious as to the answer.
“85 pounds,” the doctor responded. “And that’s not good. You need to get some more fat on your bones. Keep in mind, though, when you eat, to do so slowly. Your stomach is severely shrunken from lack of same.”
Chakotay slid his hands under Sara’s armpits and lifted her from the bed. “Will you tell Neelix thank you for me?” Sara twisted her head to look at Kes.
She smiled. “Of course. Goodbye, Sara.”
“Thank you Captain Janeway.” Sara said to the Captain politely.
“You’re very welcome.” For all her stern demeanor, the authority that exuded from her, she retained an air of surprise, shock, and to Sara’s disappointment, apprehension, looking very deeply into Sara’s serious, haunted blue eyes.
“Good-bye Kes. Thank you, doctor,” Sara followed Chakotay out the door.
