Disaster!

"Full Impact. Final Round To Naomi. Winner: Naomi."
The computer voice echoed around the spacious holodeck, heard only by the walls and the two occupants, Naomi Wildman and Icheb. Ever since Naomi had been big enough to play velocity, she and her friend Icheb, a tall ex-Borg, had had a weekly tournament. Even though she was younger, Naomi was usually the winner.
"You are a highly skilled player, Naomi Wildman," Icheb said to his friend.
Naomi smiled at him.
"Thanks, Icheb. You're not bad yourself! You almost had me that time," she replied.
Icheb was confident in his response. "Next time, I will be successful."
"That's what you think," Naomi countered. "Hey, let's go get some lunch," she suggested, hopefully.
"I accept your offer. I hear Neelix is serving pizza today. Lieutenant Paris suggested once that I try it."
Naomi and Icheb linked arms and walked out into the corridor.

Captain Kathryn Janeway and Commander Chakotay were occupying the command chairs on the bridge of Voyager. The rest of the senior crew was on a coffee break. It was the night shift, and little was going on of interest. Except for a conversation between the two most senior officers on Voyager.
"I was thinking, Commander. It's Ensign Kim's birthday soon. Perhaps we should organize some kind of celebration," Captain Janeway whispered to her First Officer.
"Maybe. What did you have in mind?" Chakotay whispered back.
"I don't know. But I'm sure Lieutenant Paris will have an idea. Could you have a word with him, Commander?" She looked straight into his eyes.
Chakotay nodded. "I'll go have a word with him now."
He got up and walked towards the turbolift. After he had entered it, the Captain sighed in her command chair. She was in love. Or so she thought. Even with all her experience of romance, she still wasn't sure if she was purely attracted to Chakotay's physical form, or to him as a person as well.
But her daydream was broken. The ship was shaking violently. She turned to Lieutenant Ayala who was at the tactical station.
"Lieutenant, what's going on?" she demanded while also trying to keep herself from being thrown to the floor.
The tall man responded over the noise of explosions on the bridge. "Captain, a quantum singularity opened briefly near the warp core. It caused massive damage to the warp drive. Most of the ship's systems are offline too, including the weapons, shields, propulsion, turbolifts..."
"I get the picture. I take it we've lost communications too?" Janeway interrupted him.
"Yes Captain," Ayala replied.
Damn, Kathryn thought to herself. Not only can I not do anything to sort this mess out, I can't contact Chakotay to find out if he's ok... She decided to access the Jefferies tubes network to get to the rest of the ship. After leaving Lieutenant Ayala in command, she left the bridge via the aft cargo room.

Ensign Kim and Lieutenant Paris were in the Holodeck. They had resurrected 'Sandrine's' and were taking their coffee break there. After the Doctor had used it to tutor Seven of Nine in 'expressing romantic interest', and a passing ambassador had gotten drunk in it and modified the simulation drastically, there was much to restore, for example the proprietress Sandrine herself. The two officers looked around the room.
Harry was the first to speak, enthusiastic as ever.
"So where should we start? Sandrine, Ricky, your pool table?"
Paris smiled. "Let's start with the pool table. And before that, let's get rid of Doc's new centerpiece. Computer, delete piano." The piano vanished from the center of the room. "That's better. Now, Computer, add pool table, balls and cues."
The computer inserted the table in the centre of the room. The balls appeared inside of a triangle in the centre of the table, and the cues lined themselves up against the wall. But they didn't remain there for long.
The lights flickered, the whole room shook. Drinks fell off of the bar, the cues fell over, and the pool table slid over to the other side of the room. Tom and Harry toppled over and ended up on top of the bar.
The shaking stopped. Tom was first to rise, and he looked around. The place was totally wrecked. He thought to himself, well so much for rebuilding Sandrine's, it's totally destroyed now!
He picked up Harry, who was sprawled over the bar, and found the Emergency Medkit, which was hidden behind a holodeck access panel. Tom had been trained at Starfleet Academy in basic medical procedures, and Voyager's EMH had instructed him in more complex first aid after he had been assigned to work part-time in Sickbay. He applied a patch to a cut on Harry's head, and then took a hypospray from the case, filled it, and used it to revive the young ensign. Harry was a little groggy, so Tom helped him up. The Lieutenant ordered "Computer, end program," which opened the holodeck doors with a loud 'swoosh', and with Harry's arm around Tom's shoulder, they walked out of the door and set a course to Sickbay.

"So, are ya goin to the Christmas Party?" Naomi was obviously in a festive mood. The fact that the date was December 20 and it was nearly Christmas time had lifted everyone's spirits. "It'll be cool! Neelix has been working for the past month to get everything right."
Icheb's appreciation of social events was limited. As a Borg, he had not experienced any such things. He knew of them, of course, from the shared knowledge of the collective, but he had never applied the theories in a practical situation. However, he had once heard Captain Janeway use the phrase "There's no time like the present'. Although he wasn't sure if the phrase was relevant, he decided to proceed, and gain experience first-person of Christmas.
"I will be attending the festivities," he said, a little unsure of himself.
Naomi picked up on this. "Hey, would you like to come with me? I'm not going with anyone."
Icheb briefly considered the proposal. Going with Naomi would alleviate the tension associated with the party. And besides, it would allow the young Brunali to spend some time with the person he considered to be his best friend.
"OK Naomi Wildman, I will join you. What time should we meet?" he said confidently to Naomi with her flowing blonde hair and blue eyes.
Naomi was pleased by Icheb's acceptance of her offer, although she kept that to herself. With her usual vigour, she replied: "Just come down to my quarters at 18:00 hours on the 24th! The party starts at 19:00, so that'll give us ample time to get ready."
Icheb blushed slightly as he said, "Acknowledged. What clothing is appropriate for the event?"
"Well, just wear a bright shirt and..."
Before she could finish her sentence, the turbolift started to fall.

After Chakotay had left the bridge, he had deduced the most likely location of Lieutenant Thomas Eugene Paris. He had thought of trying the shuttlebay first. Tom had been upgrading the Delta Flyer with some new warp engines, and he had been almost fanatical about it. But after considering that the Captain had only allocated a 30-minute coffee break, he decided that it was unlikely that the lieutenant was in the shuttlebay. Next, he decided to stop by the Mess Hall, but he wasn't there either. Neelix said he hadn't been in for days.
Further thought produced the answer: he was on one of the holodecks, probably running one of his Captain Proton scenarios. So Chakotay walked back to the turbolift, and requested passage to Deck 6 Section 9. The turbolift complied.
As the turbolift approached Deck 6, Chakotay felt very slight vibrations. He imagined that the warp core had probably caused them. It was not at all irregular for the ship to vibrate when in transition between warp speeds. He reached deck 6, and the doors opened. Just after stepping out of the turbolift, he heard a huge screeching sound from the mechanism behind him, and as he turned round, he saw the lift car fall. He grabbed a wall near him to steady himself, and then looked down the lift shaft to see that the car had disintegrated into a pile of rubble and burning flames, lying at the bottom of the long vertical corridor that went from the dorsal to ventral sides of the ship. The Commander was surprised to say the least. Starfleet turbolift systems were usually very reliable. After briefly considering it, he decided to call B'Elanna in Engineering.
"Chakotay to Lieutenant Torres."
Nothing happened.
"Chakotay to B'Elanna Torres, please respond."
There was no response. Chakotay changed tactics.
"Chakotay to Janeway."
There was still no response. So again, Chakotay decided to try something different.
"Computer, what is the status of the comm system?"
The computer was responding today. "The comm system is offline."
"Computer, why is the comm system offline?" Chakotay inquired further.
"The comm system has been destroyed by the effect of a quantum singularity."
That surprised Chakotay.
"Computer, give me a full damage report."
"Propulsion systems offline. Weapons and defense systems offline. Communications, transporters and turbolifts offline. Ship safeguards offline. Replicator system offline. Sewage and waste reclamation..."
The commander interrupted. "OK Computer, I get the idea."
The computer ceased it's rundown of the ship's damaged systems as Chakotay walked down the corridor, towards the Holodeck. He thought he might as well find Tom and Harry and explain the situation to them.
He got to Holodeck One, and found Tom helping Harry out of the Holodeck. He called out to them.
"Hold on!"
Tom turned around, and replied to Chakotay.
"Great. Just the person I needed. Could you help me with Harry? He's heavy for an ensign."
Chakotay smiled. "No problem. What happened to you?"
Tom explained what had happened in the holodeck, the vibrations, the mess that Sandrine's had ended up in, and how both he and Harry had ended up hanging over the bar.
Chakotay helped Tom to carry Harry down the corridor, to the Jefferies tube access corridor. They entered the network of passages, and with considerable difficulty managed to get Harry and themselves to deck 5 - from there, it was only a short walk to Sickbay. They set a course and engaged.

The turbolift plunged thirteen decks at high speed. It's occupants, Naomi and Icheb, were pinned to the ceiling by the g-forces and were sure to crash down to the bottom of the high speed transport system any second. Naomi was very frightened by this, after all, she was only sixteen, and Icheb was still mildly afraid, even through his Borg calm and resolve. The fall seemed to take forever.
But as the turbolift passed Deck 11, the emergency systems activated, and the turbolift slowed down gradually, stopping as it reached Deck 15. The doors opened slightly, but not enough for the two now-standing occupants to escape. Icheb and Naomi were thankful for that system, which had saved them from becoming splatters on the turbolift floor.
Naomi recovered herself, and was the first to speak.
"Icheb, are... are you... ok?" She was noticeably shaken by the experience.
Icheb tried to give a response. "Yes, I... I..." He collapsed before he could give the response. Naomi's expression changed from a relieved expression to a scared one. She was used to looking to Icheb as a source of strength, and now she herself had to be that strength.
So she thought to herself. Naomi, keep calm. Remember what you've been taught to do. Starfleet protocol 1101: If you are caught in a turbolift, use the turbolift escape hatch to leave and proceed to the nearest deck. So Naomi looked up to the escape hatch in the ceiling, but she couldn't reach it. Now she had to think on her feet. What else can I do? She thought about it for a moment, before walking over to the doors and, pressing her fingers into the gap, she tried to force the doors open. They budged a little bit, but not sufficiently for her to escape. Naomi went to the back of the turbolift and sat down, discouraged by her failure to open the doors. She had to think of another option. Come on Naomi, you can think of something.
An idea suddenly flashed into Naomi's mind. It was something she had seen Lt. Torres do once in Engineering. She looked around the turbolift and found the access panel, which she used all of her strength to pull off of the wall. Behind the panel was a blue bio-neural gel pack, some optical cabling, and an ODN conduit access port. She pulled out about 2 metres of the cabling and took a hair band out of her hair. She used the hair band to keep the cable together, and plugged it into the gel pack. Naomi then reconfigured the gel pack to emit electrical pulses through the cabling, plugged the cable into the ODN conduit, and activated the gel pack.
The gel pack started to expand. Energy travelled along the cabling and into the ODN conduits of the turbolift system. A high pitched whining noise came from the gel pack as more and more energy passed into the ship's systems. Naomi stood against the back wall, away from the pack, and watched as it grew to almost double its previous size.
Then, the pack exploded, showering both Icheb and Naomi, not to mention the rest of the turbolift, with blue bio-neural cells. And the doors sprung open too. Naomi had created a power surge that had opened all the turbolift doors on the turbolift network. She smiled at her success, and slowly dragged Icheb out of the turbolift and onto deck 15.
The corridors were narrow in this part of the ship. Naomi remembered that Captain Janeway had once told her that deck 15 was more compact that all of the others, and that not many systems were located here or officers stationed here. But there was a small stateroom with a bed and a replicator on this deck. Naomi decided to take Icheb there, as she considered it to be the best place for the time being.
She was almost exhausted by the time she got Icheb there. She lifted Icheb onto the bed, and lay him down, then walked over to the replicator, and ordered a prune juice for herself, while she waited for Icheb to wake up. After some thought, Naomi deduced that it would take at least four hours for Icheb to come around, so she thought to herself. Good job Naomi, you probably just saved his life. You did it. You knew you could. Now all you have to do is hold on...
Naomi was scared. She didn't know what was going on. She had tried to contact Captain Janeway but had failed, because of the damage to the comm system. She had then occupied her thoughts by playing a game of chess with the computer on a nearby terminal. But the computer had continued to beat her. So she had decided to write a report for Captain Janeway on what had happened.
But Naomi was extremely efficient and quick when it came to writing reports. She had a natural talent for extended writing. She had just finished when she heard someone trying to get into the stateroom via the main door. Naomi was uncertain of who it was, so she grabbed a phaser from a nearby weapons locker, and pointed it at the door.
It seemed to take forever for whoever it was to open the door. The door budged eventually, however, and then it slid open. The person there had their back to Naomi initially. Naomi called out, "Identify yourself!"
The figure turned around. A tall, dark skinned figure with short black hair and pointed ears stood there.
"I am Lieutenant Commander Tuvok. What are you doing here, Naomi Wildman?"
"Well, me and Icheb were in the turbolift, and the lift fell, and I had to get Icheb to somewhere safer, so I sorta... brought him here." Naomi was still a little nervous around the domineering Vulcan, even after many years of knowing him. "What's going on?"
"A quantum singularity damaged all of Voyager's primary systems and most of the backup systems too."
Naomi picked up the PADD with her report stored in it, and handed it to Tuvok. "What's this?" he asked her.
"It's my report on what happened and how we escaped the turbolift."
Tuvok spent a good ten minutes reading the report, before looking back to Naomi.
"You have acquitted yourself admirably, Miss Wildman. Your method of escaping the turbolift was particularly ingenious. I will be informing the Captain how well you have performed in this situation. That is, of course, provided you will let me go."
The girl giggled a little. Tuvok was quite obviously making a small joke there, although he would never admit it. She lowered her phaser and Tuvok entered the room. The half-Ktarian girl was also not used to receiving such high praise from "Mr. Vulcan", as Neelix called him.
"Thank you, sir," she said in response to his compliments about her performance. Tuvok nodded in acknowledgement.
"We must get Icheb to sickbay," he said. "There is a secured emergency transporter on this deck that we can use. Follow me."
"Yes sir," Naomi obeyed. "But, what about Icheb?"
"We will program the transporter to beam him from the stateroom."
Naomi nodded, and she and Tuvok walked out of the stateroom. Within minutes, they beamed out of the confines of Deck 15, and clear of a situation that Naomi never wanted to be in again.

"Minor concussion, slight fracture to the nose, no major damage," reported the Doctor as he scanned Lieutenant Tom Paris. "Ensign Kim didn't fare as well, however. He will need several days of neurological treatment to repair the damage to his systems. I had to sedate him so that I could perform the treatment. As for you, Commander, you're perfectly fine."
Chakotay had a response prepared for that one.
"Which is more than can be said for the ship. According to the computer, all the primary systems are offline. I tried to contact Lt. Torres, but the comm's down."
Tom looked at Chakotay. "Knowing B'Elanna, she's probably fixed half of it already. She's a workaholic, I swear."
Chakotay and Tom both smiled.
Behind everyone, Naomi, Tuvok and Icheb beamed in. The Doctor turned round, and with Chakotay's help, laid Icheb on the central biobed. Tom patched Icheb up, while Tuvok reported everything Naomi had done to Commander Chakotay. He praised the young girl for her efforts, and also said he was going to speak to the Captain about her.
The Doctor trumped up again.
"Commander Chakotay, Tuvok, you may return to repairing the ship now. Lieutenant Paris, you are staying here to help me. Naomi, if you want to stay here you can, otherwise you can go with the two Commanders."
Naomi was quick to respond, perhaps a little too quickly. "I'll stay here."
The Doctor's face registered a look of surprise, and then he nodded. Chakotay and Tuvok left through Sickbay's main door.
Naomi went and stood by Icheb, and took his hand, holding on to it tightly, looking down at him. The Doctor looked on.

Captain Kathryn Janeway was working in Engineering with Lt. Torres after having escaped the Jefferies tubes. The warp core had gone offline, causing major disruption to all ship's systems. The two most senior female officers on Voyager were attempting to repair the magnetic constrictors underneath the warp core.
Janeway was sat by the constrictor, repairing it with an engineering kit. She fired a small red beam at it, and then shouted to B'Elanna, who was at a nearby station.
"OK, try it now!"
B'Elanna pressed a few buttons, and the constrictor came online briefly, but then went back offline.
"Damn!" Janeway said. Then she looked at the constrictor, and spoke to it quietly. "Listen, if you work for me now, we'll give you, and the whole ship, a nice maintenance overhaul." She fired the red beam at the constrictor again. Then, when she had finished, she got B'Elanna to try again.
But something much worse happened on the second attempt. The constrictor exploded and sent Janeway flying back across Engineering. She hit the doors and landed on the floor. B'Elanna ran over, shouting, "Captain!" as she did. The half-Klingon chief engineer reached the Captain and checked her pulse. Then she turned round to her crew and shouted: "I need transporters online, NOW!"
While the crew repaired the transporters, B'Elanna made sure that the Captain didn't get any worse.
Five minutes later, there was no change in the transporter status. B'Elanna was getting impatient. "Hurry up!" she shouted. "The Captain's dying over here!"
She checked Janeway's pulse again. It was gone. B'Elanna frantically started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on the captain, alternately using chest compressions and breaths. But it was to no avail. B'Elanna was on the verge of giving up, when Ensign Vorik called to his superior.
"Lieutenant, the transporters are back on line!"
Finally, she thought.
"Computer, beam myself and the Captain directly to sickbay!"
The two officers dematerialised from Engineering.

The Captain and Torres materialized in Engineering. The Doctor shouted, "Cortical stimulator!"
Lieutenant Paris fixed the small device onto Janeway's head. The Doctor was at the nearby control console.
"50 milliwatts, 2 second pulse, mark!" He pushed the button, and Janeway's body flapped about with the charge.
Paris scanned her.
"No effect," he reported.
"80 milliwatts, 3 second pulse, mark!" The Captain's body again shook. And again, Voyager's medic reported that the pulse had had no effect.
"100 milliwatts, 5 second pulse, mark!" The Captain spluttered.
"She's breathing again." Paris said between breaths.
"That was a close one," said the relieved Doctor. "Help me get her onto the biobed."
The two men put their captain on one of the spare biobeds. The Doctor used the dermal regenerator to treat Janeway's wounds, and then woke her with a hypospray.
She tried to get up, but the Doc made sure she lay down.
"Lie still, Captain. You sustained serious injuries, but you're going to be fine, mainly thanks to Lt. Torres, but of course, also thanks to my... medical expertise."
The Captain whispered back. "Thank you Doctor. Bring Lt. Torres here."
B'Elanna Torres came over to see the Captain.
"Lieutenant... thank you."
"Any time," was her simple response to her Captain's praise.

Icheb had sustained a good deal of injury from his encounter with the falling turbolift. Besides the flesh wounds, one of his Borg implants had been crushed. Although it was not a major implant, it would need to be replaced in order to maintain Icheb's life. The Doctor determined that for the moment, the best he could do would be to have the computer maintain control over Icheb's implants. He opened one of the computer's access panels, and pulled out an ODN conduit. After reconfiguring it, he interfaced it with one of Icheb's other Borg implants, and then gave the computer control over Icheb's Borg systems. Naomi stood with Icheb the whole time. She was perhaps more scared now than she had ever been. Her best friend was danger of death, and the only comparable time for her, was the time that she had almost lost her mother. Although it was many years ago, she was still haunted by that event, and this situation brought the memories back like a surging torrent of water. Lieutenant Paris noticed the look of anxiety on Naomi's face, and went over to her.
"Hey," he said to Voyager's youngest crewmember.
She looked up at him.
"Hey," she replied.
"Are you... okay?" he asked, struggling for the correct way to phrase the question.
"I'll be okay," she said, feebly.
"You know, if you wanna talk, you can come to me, okay?" Tom offered.
Naomi turned to him and a weak smile manifested itself on her face.
"Thanks, Tom," she said.
The chief medic offered advice. "Naomi, we won't be able to do anything about this tonight. Why don't you get some rest, you look like you haven't slept in days."
"I wouldn't be able to sleep," Naomi responded. "I'd only think about... this..."
"OK, I understand that," Tom replied. "But at least get something to eat. I know a lovely bistro in the south of France you could go to. If the Doctor doesn't mind, I'll come with you, give you some company."
Naomi pondered for a couple of moments.
"Alright," she replied.
Tom smiled, before going round and explaining the situation to the Doctor. He was very understanding, and allowed Tom to go with the distraught young girl.

Captain Janeway had not recovered significantly when Commander Chakotay paid her a visit two hours after her arrival in Sickbay. Her condition was stable, but still critical. The constrictor explosion in Engineering had damaged her nervous system and it would take a while for the Doctor to repair it. It was not even certain that she would regain all motor control.
Or so the Doctor had reported to Chakotay on his entrance to sickbay. Chakotay had come down to sickbay after hearing of the Captain's grievous injuries from B'Elanna, who had informed him when the commander and Lt. Commander Tuvok had gone to Engineering to help repair the ship.
He simply stood over the now-sedated commanding officer of Voyager, looking down at her damaged body. Although Chakotay was a strong-willed individual, even his mental control could not contain his emotions completely. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he stood, fixed in place by the sheer horror of his Captain's injuries.
The Doctor saw the Commander's reaction from his office. In all the years he had known the former Maquis captain, he had never seen him become emotional in this way, and it was obvious to the hologram that Chakotay cared deeply for Captain Janeway, perhaps more than he had previously believed.
Chakotay whispered to the broken body of his captain.

Kathryn... why did this have to happen? Why? It's not fair, neither for me nor for you. You never did anything to deserve this.
The Doctor tells me that talking to you might help your neurons recover a little more quickly, so that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to leave your side. Not going to leave you alone. And most of all, I'm not going to give up.
Remember that time that I was captured and recruited into a Kradin army? You never gave up on me, not for a second. And remember the time when Seska took over the ship? You risked the entire crew and this vessel just so that I could find out the truth.
You did these things for me Kathryn. You never gave up on me. And I'll never give up on you. I never told you this before; I was always too scared to say anything. But I'm more scared of losing you now than I was scared to tell you, so I'll tell you now. You're more than just my Captain. You're more than just my friend.
I guess what I'm saying is... I love you.
Tears poured down Chakotay's face as he continued.
I've loved you ever since the day we met. Since I saw you on the bridge of this ship. Since that day we were stranded together in the Delta Quadrant, all those years ago. I know you probably don't feel the same way, but the truth is, Kathryn, I want to be with you, and spend the rest of my life with you. I love you.

Naomi Wildman and Lieutenant Paris were in Holodeck One. They had finished repairing the simulation and Sandrine's was back to the way it was when, many years ago, Lt. Paris had woken Ensign Kim up in the middle of the night to see it. The two of them were sat at the bar. The holographic Sandrine was stood behind the bar, cleaning glasses.
Naomi was a little happier now. Sandrine had put on a little entertainment for the 16-year-old and she had cheered up somewhat.
After the entertainment had finished, Paris had spoken to Naomi about Icheb.
"I was so upset about Icheb," she said. "He's my best friend, and he nearly died. I was really really scared."
"But you can be happy about the fact that without you, Icheb would probably have died there in the turbolift. You got him to safety, Naomi. Thanks to you, he'll live. And your friendship will grow even stronger."
Naomi was moved by this. She had blamed herself for what happened to Icheb, and had really forgotten that her actions in the turbolift had saved his life.
And then, Naomi smiled for the first time since the accident happened. She finally felt a little better.
"Thanks, Tom," she said, and gave him a hug.
"Any time," he replied. "Now how's about a game of pool?"
"Okay," she said.

After a few games of pool, Naomi having won all of them, the two had stopped for a break. Naomi had had a prune juice, and Tom a coke. They had just started their next game, when the comm system chirped out into the bar.
"Doctor to Naomi Wildman and Lieutenant Paris."
Naomi was quick to respond. "Naomi here."
In a cheery tone of voice, the Doctor said, "Please report to Sickbay. I have found a way to heal Icheb."
"On our way!" said Paris. "Computer..."
"Hold on!" Sandrine demanded. "I wanna come with you!"
Paris ordered the computer to transfer Sandrine to sickbay, before again ordering, "Computer, end program!"

Naomi and Lt. Paris rushed into Sickbay, to find Sandrine kissing the Doctor. When he saw Paris, the Doctor pulled himself away from the holographic French proprietress, and addressed the Lieutenant.
"Ah, Mr Paris, perhaps you can convince this... woman... to KEEP HER HANDS OFF ME!"
Naomi giggled.
"Now," the Doctor continued, "we must treat Icheb. I have determined that if we replace Icheb's damaged implant with this modified cordical stimulator, we will be able to save his life and relieve his dependency on the computer system. However, in order to do it, you will have to balance the levels of Borg nanoprobes to accommodate for the damaged tissues manually during the procedure, since I will have to disconnect the computer from Icheb in order to replace the implant. We must start as soon as possible."
"OK Doctor, I'm ready when you're ready," Paris responded. He turned to Naomi. "See, I told you, it'll be ok. Go get some rest, Naomi. We'll look after Icheb."
Naomi nodded. "Ok. See you later."
She took Icheb's hand one last time, then placed it gently on the biobed, and left Sickbay. Sandrine sat down on the one remaining spare biobed, and watched from afar, as Tom and the Doctor set to work.

The two medical officers worked for hours and hours fitting the makeshift implant to Icheb's physiology. Paris stood at the sickbay console, making sure that Icheb's Borg systems remained stable, while the holographic Doctor removed Icheb's old implant and in it's place put the life-saving cordical stimulator. It was a delicate procedure, and there was no margin for error. If they made a single error, no matter how small that error was, Icheb would die.
Eventually, the Doctor completely fitted the implant. He breathed deeply.
"OK, I've fitted the implant. Cross your fingers."
He made a tiny adjustment to the implant and it came online. It had a small green flashing light to show it's operational status, which currently indicated that the implant was functioning.
But no sooner had the EMH and his assistant breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the procedure was a success, than the console started bleeping.
Paris quickly hit the buttons and reported back.
"The new implant's being rejected!"
"20 CC's Triaxanol," ordered the Doctor frantically.
Paris loaded a hypospray and threw it across to the Doctor, who injected Icheb's carotid artery.
"No effect!" Paris called out frantically.
"Send an neurostatic pulse through the implant, now!" The Doctor's voice was becoming more agitated with each passing second.
Paris manipulated the console at an incredible speed.
The pulse shook Icheb's body, but it was to no avail.
A long, continuous noise came from the monitor.
"He's dead," the Doctor reported solemnly.

Five minutes passed and the two medical officers were still stood there in silence. They could not believe that he had died. Everything had been planned, down to the last adjustment on the implant...
The Doctor was first to speak. "I'll be in my..."
He wasn't permitted to finish however, as the console bleeped out once again.
"The Borg implants are regenerating his systems!" Lt. Paris shouted.
The Doctor was quick to respond. "Emit another neurostatic pulse, now!"
Tom again manipulated the controls. The pulse was emitted.
The Doctor scanned Icheb with his favourite tricorder, and smiled.
"He's back with us. And he's going to be fine."
Tom breathed a sigh of relief.
And the Doctor announced.
"Now, Tom, I have an idea on how we can save the Captain. Come on."

It was three days since the whole crisis. It was the 24th. It was the day of the party. The door chime on Naomi Wildman's quarters sounded.
"Come in!" she said.
Icheb walked into Naomi's quarters.
"Hey!" she said.
"Hello Naomi Wildman," he said. "You look... very nice."
Naomi blushed slightly. "Thanks," she replied.
"I have brought you a gift," he said, and handed her a small square-shaped present, wrapped in paper with Christmas trees decorating it.
She smiled, and accepted the box. "May I open it now?"
Icheb thought briefly then responded. "You may."
Naomi unwrapped the gift, then opened the small box, which was lined in red fur. She saw within it a gold necklace with a green stone embedded in the centre.
Naomi was almost in tears. "It's... beautiful!"
"I was hoping that you would like it. It is a gift for Christmas, but also for saving my life in the turbolift. Lt. Paris informed me what you did."
"You're my best friend, Icheb." Although she had not admitted it, Naomi actually felt more than friendship for the ex-Borg.
"I however do not regard you in the same way, Naomi Wildman." Icheb's face was deadly serious.
"What?"
"My feelings towards you are... romantic. I love you, Naomi Wildman." He smiled. Naomi was speechless. She had never once imagined that Icheb returned his feelings. But words were unnecessary. She grabbed him, pulled him close to her, and kissed him passionately.

At 19:00 hours on the 24th of December, the party started in Voyager's mess hall.
Traditional Christmas songs blasted out of Tom Paris' jukebox, which was stood at one end of the room. At the other end, a huge Christmas tree provided a stark contrast. Along the windowside wall were one hundred and forty-three stockings, filled with presents.
Lots of people were there. Some were dancing, some were singing, some were sat at tables, which were dotted around the room. B'Elanna Torres, Tom Paris, and the young Miral Paris were sat at one table. Harry Kim was dancing with the majority of the crew. Seven of Nine was also dancing. Chakotay was sat alone at a table at the end of the room, next to the Christmas tree. The Doctor was sat with Tuvok, who "did not see the logic in parties". Naomi and Icheb were dancing together in the centre of the room.
Only Captain Janeway was not present. Her absence was notable, as she always attended Voyager Christmas parties. She had never missed one since the ship's launch in 2371. At the table of the Parises, Tom and B'Elanna were discussing an ingenious plan.
"So, I had the computer replicate me some mistletoe, and I intend to use it." B'Elanna giggled. "Go for it Tom."
Tom got up, and crept around the room until he found Seven of Nine. He then talked to her about Borg unimatrices as a distraction, so he could lead her over to Harry. He gestured them in front of him and so that they were facing each other, then quickly hovered the mistletoe over their heads. As soon as he saw it, Harry embraced Seven very, very passionately. Seven was extremely surprised by Harry's actions and when he released her, Tom said, "Hey, it's tradition!"
Later on, the doors opened, and Captain Janeway entered, albeit slowly. She walked carefully and delicately over to Chakotay's table and sat down next to him.
"Captain!" Chakotay exclaimed. He had not anticipated the Captain's presence.
"Chakotay," she said, her expression one of pain. But she kept up her strong-will to maintain control over the pain she was experiencing. "I decided to come along. I couldn't miss out on Christmas, no matter how badly injured I was."
Chakotay responded with a smile.
"I came to say to you, Chakotay, thank you. You stayed with me in Sickbay, so the Doctor tells me."
Chakotay was a little unsure of himself. "Yes... I did."
Kathryn continued. "I also came to tell you, that contrary to what you might have thought, I do feel the same way." She turned to him and smiled.
Chakotay's look turned to one of happiness. "You mean..."
She nodded. "Yes."
She offered him her hand. He took it. Then he brought her out onto the dance floor. The music had just changed to slow-dance music.
B'Elanna and Tom were on that floor, as were Icheb and Naomi. The Doctor even led Seven up, and the couples of the regular crew were there too. But the final couple were Kathryn and Chakotay.
The dancing went on. As the music finished, Kathryn said to Chakotay, "Merry Christmas, Chakotay."
Chakotay replied, "Merry Christmas, Kathryn."
And they engaged in a passionate embrace.