Little Girl Lost

by Kath Tate

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and its characters are the property of Paramount. This story is not meant to infringe upon the trademarks or copyrights of Paramount.

Kath's Notes: My knowledge of the layout of the jeffries tubes is limited to say the least, please forgive me. Also, I don't know what Ryma means, I just made it up. Nothing pretends to be canon, it is here merely for your enjoyment. :-)

*****

Ryma was sulking. This was unusual because she not a sulky child. She had a very sunny disposition and a delightful laugh that spilled from her easily. But not today. Today she was grumpy from a lack of sleep that was compounded by her normal routine being disrupted. She missed her mother, who was away, and she missed her father, who was extra busy. And now she found that her afternoon was going to be spent in sickbay while the children of the school were inoculated. Ryma wasn't too sure what inoculated meant but she didn't want to go to sickbay. She wouldn't go to sickbay. No way. Sickbay was where you went to die, and Ryma wasn't through living yet.

Ryma wasn't her real name, that was Melanie. But no one called her Melanie, except for Ensign Phillips who handled the school when she was trying to get her attention. Sometimes Mama, with her warning voice, would call her Melanie, but that didn't happen very often. Ryma had heard Mama when she was angry and it was scary. Daddy called it formidable. Ryma didn't know what that meant exactly but she knew that she didn't like it when Mama was angry. One time Ryma had even witnessed Mama angry with Daddy; that had been very upsetting. Daddy *never* called her Melanie. Ryma was his special name for her. He said it meant ray of sunshine. Ryma didn't know what sunshine was; she had spent her whole five years aboard Voyager.

The group was preparing to go. Ensign Phillips organized them into a line, all holding hands. Ryma brought up the rear, holding the hand of that icky Joey who usually had his thumb in his mouth.

Ryma almost changed her mind about not going to sickbay when she remembered that Kes would be there. She loved Kes. However, even the thought of seeing Kes couldn't block out the fact that Shannon had gone to sickbay and not come home. Shannon had been her best friend.

Rounding a corner just before entering the horrible doors Ryma let go of icky Joey's hand. He put his thumb in his mouth without comment, following the others. Ryma turned and ran in the opposite direction.

She'd better find some place to go, or Ensign Phillips would find her. She stopped abruptly, an idea in her head that made her smile for the first time today. Daddy. Daddy would know what to do.

"Ryma to Daddy." She tapped the little triangle on her chest. It chirped but there was no sound of her father's voice answering her.

"Ryma to Daddy." She tried again. Still no reply. Why wasn't he answering her? Had he left? Had he gone away, just like Mama? He wouldn't leave her without saying goodbye. Not Daddy. Rounding another corner her eyes caught sight of the computer console high up on the wall. That gave her another idea.

"Computer," she called, "please tell me where Daddy is."

"Please specify crewmember," was the response. Ryma forehead creased with some distress. How could the computer not know Daddy? He was the most important man on the ship!

"Computer," she called again, knowing it was the only way to get the ship to answer her, "why can't you tell me where Daddy is?"

"Location of crewmembers requires a name."

Ryma smiled again. She knew the answer to this.

"Computer, please tell me where Chakotay is."

"Commander Chakotay is on the bridge," the computer voice told her.

Ryma skipped down the corridor to the nearest turbolift. When it arrived it was empty. Stepping lightly aboard, she waited until the doors swished shut and then, with her head pointed up at the ceiling which is where she imagined the mysterious turbolift person to be, she called out her one word instruction.

"Bridge!"

Except the turbolift did not move.

"Unable to comply."

"Bridge, please!" Ryma tried again.

"Unable to comply."

"Why not?" demanded the little girl.

"You do not have bridge access authorization."

Maybe, thought Ryma, the mysterious turbolift person was working with Ensign Phillips to get her to go to sickbay.

"Take me as close to the Bridge as you can," she told the ceiling, and was delighted to feel the light movement of lift. She laughed.

Arriving one deck below the bridge, Ryma paused outside the turbolift, unsure of how to proceed. If the mysterious turbolift person wouldn't take her any further then she'd have to get there on her own. She knew it could be done, because one time there had been no power at all on the ship and still Daddy had come to their quarters to get her. He'd said something about ......... tubes.

Ryma found herself another computer console. She jumped up as high as she could, and she was the best in her class at jumping, and tapped the console. It lit up on her touch. She stood back almost to the other wall so that she could see the display.

"Computer please show me a picture of Voyager."

The console lights flickered into a basic display of the ship.

"Computer, where am I?" Ryma blinked and there was a flashing indicator of her location. "Computer, where is Da.... where is the Bridge?"

She couldn't believe how close they were! So close and she still couldn't get to him. It was hard to see from this angle how she might arrive on the Bridge without taking the turbolift. That was the only way she'd ever gone to the Bridge.

"Computer, how can I get to the Bridge from here?"

There was another flashing light showing the turbolift she'd just come from. Well that was no use at all!

"Computer, pretend that there is no turbolift. How can I get to the Bridge?" She'd played pretend games with the computer before. She and Daddy played what if games all the time on the holodeck.

Suddenly the console lit up with an entirely different approach. It looked to Ryma like there was a pathway *in the wall* that would take her to the bridge. A *tube* Daddy had said. She had to find one of those.

It was unfortunate, for all others concerned, that Ashmore was accessing the jeffries tube on deck two that afternoon. But Ryma found it fortunate indeed that after walking almost halfway around the deck without finding any tubes she spotted the back half of Ashmore wiggling out of a hole in the wall.

"I can't see it Lieutenant," he was saying.

Ryma smothered a giggle when she heard B'Elanna's voice over the man's comm badge. B'Elanna didn't sound pleased, but Mama had said that B'Elanna's bark was worse than her bite. It was another of Mama's expressions that Ryma didn't understand completely. She figured it meant that the engineer sounded angry even when she wasn't.

"Check the grid Ashmore! You must be at the wrong place!"

Not entirely convinced, Ashmore turned and walked a few paces down the corridor to bring up a map of the jeffries tubes on the wall console. Sure enough, he'd entered from the wrong door; he should be on the other side of the deck. Distracted by his own momentary confusion, he did not see the little girl crawl into the open access of the tube. He shut the access panel and felt it lock in place before moving away.

Ryma heard the door lock behind her but she was not too concerned. Pretty soon she'd be on the Bridge with Daddy. She walked along the narrow corridor pretending she was on a miniature Voyager, one so small that she, little Ryma, was big enough to have her head touch the ceiling. She giggled. Even Daddy's head didn't touch the ceiling. Even Tom's head didn't touch the ceiling and he was taller than Daddy!

She hadn't gone very far when she came to an open cross-section with a ladder running up and down. Up was the direction she needed so up she climbed. The sound in the tunnels was kind of spooky, it was unsettling to her. Unlike the dampening effects of noises in the main corridor, the tubes seemed to echo with a hollow sound.

Ryma was not impressed to reach the top of the ladder and discover she was not on the Bridge. The ladder ended at a door, similar to the one she'd entered, but locked. She knocked, politely at first and then with more insistence. She even tried keying in the numbers to the entrance of her own quarters on the touchpad. She tried calling the computer. She tried calling Daddy. No one answered.

Scared, but practical, she realized she couldn't remain standing on the ladder, so she began to descend. Perhaps there was another door open somewhere.

Somewhere past the level she had originally entered Ryma's foot slipped on the ladder. She clutched with her arms at the rungs and managed to prevent her fall. But as she struggled to regain her balance the ladder's rung brushed past her little triangle, knocking it from her chest. Ryma gasped to see it fall far below her. It fell so far she couldn't even see it anymore. Daddy had said she must never take off the triangle. It was *important*.

Made cautious from her near fall, Ryma began to slowly descend the ladder in pursuit of her triangle.

It only took one more slip to convince her that she had to get off the ladder. She was getting too tired. The triangle would have to wait. It's not as though Daddy was answering her hails! She needed to get to the Bridge and that meant moving upwards, not down. So at the next cross-section, Ryma chose to start walking across, in hopes of finding another ladder up to deck one.

*****

Chakotay left the Bridge in the capable hands of Lieutenant Rollins and entered the turbolift with a sigh. He was tired. With Kathryn off the ship handling trade negotiations he'd been pulling some long shifts. And now Torres, dealing with some mysterious computer malfunctions, had been railing on him for more supplies, more people, more this, more that. Chakotay closed his eyes for a moment.

He opened them to scan the PADD he held. It was B'Elanna's preliminary report. Kathryn was not going to be happy to add this engineering list to their supply needs. It was hard enough finding food, finding power. Still, he'd sent it along in a message to the planet's surface where she was with Tuvok. Tuvok would be returning tonight, but Kathryn was staying another day.

So intent was Chakotay on his thoughts that he arrived at the room assigned to the children's school without really paying attention. He stood inside the empty room, confused for a moment. Then he remembered that Ensign Phillips was taking the children to sickbay for inoculations this afternoon. That was where he was supposed to be.

Turning on his heel, Chakotay somberly reflected on the death of little Shannon Nicoletti. She'd been a friend to Ryma and he was worried about how his daughter was dealing with her loss. He worried about how Lieutenant Nicoletti was dealing with her loss. That was Chakotay's job, he figured, to worry about everyone.

He entered sickbay to find it more populated than the empty schoolroom. The Doctor appeared to be at the end of his holographic patience, while Kes, in contrast, seemed to thrive on the energy of the young children. Ensign Phillips looked as tired and harassed as Chakotay felt. He gave her a wan smile and looked for his daughter. He needed some peace and quiet.

Not seeing Ryma immediately, Chakotay waded through the crowd of children to Ensign Phillips

"Ensign," he began. She stiffly tried to come to attention, which amused him slightly. "Where is my daughter?"

She looked at him blankly. Then she scanned the room.

"Ryma!" she called.

'I could have done that myself,' thought Chakotay, bemused.

Ensign Phillips dashed into the doctor's office and immediately out again, this time checking around the biobeds and equipment tables.

"Melanie!" she called, with a more menacing voice. She looked up helplessly at Chakotay.

"When was the last time you saw her?" he asked.

Ensign Phillips looked over to Kes, who shook her head. Although they were nearing the end of the children, they had not processed Ryma yet.

"I know she left the school with us," began Ensign Phillips slowly.

"She's not in the school, I just came from there," Chakotay said impatiently. Then, he tapped his badge, "Chakotay to Ryma." He strained to hear her small voice in the noise of the room. "Chakotay to Ryma, please talk to me."

Ensign Phillips had gone pale. Kes moved over to the two of them.

"Computer, location of Melanie Janeway," Chakotay called out.

"Unable to comply," was the cold response.

"Chakotay to Torres," barked the commander, now feeling the first prickles of worry creep across his skin, "what's wrong with the computer?"

"Could you be a *bit* more specific, Chakotay?" snapped Torres's voice.

"I'm trying to locate Ryma and it won't comply with my request. What's wrong?"

"Oh," Torres sighed audibly, "yes, well, we are having some problems switching back to the main power grid after this afternoon's testing. I'll get on it."

"She's not ..... she's not down there with you, is she?" he asked.

"No," Torres was surprised. "No, I haven't seen her all day."

"Commander," Kes's soft voice could somehow still be heard above the children's voices, "were you aware that Ryma is scared of sickbay?"

"What?" exclaimed Chakotay and Ensign Phillips at the same time.

"She thinks it is a place to die," explained Kes, "because of what happened to Shannon."

"I didn't know that," Chakotay admitted, wondering what else was going through that little mind about the death of her friend.

"I wish *I'd* known that!" Ensign Phillips declared.

"She's probably just gone to a favourite place, some place she feels safe," Kes suggested. Chakotay nodded.

"I agree. I'll check our quarters, you check the hydroponics bay....."

"I'll check the holodecks," broke in the doctor, who had been listening. While he would never admit it, Ryma was a favourite of his, if one could have a favourite of these noisy little things.

"Where else?" asked Ensign Phillips.

"You stay here with the children," Chakotay said, already heading for the door. "We don't want to misplace any others."

In the turbolift he tried to think of other places Ryma might go to feel safe.

"Chakotay to Paris!"

"Paris here," came the lieutenant's voice.

"Are you still in shuttlebay one?"

"Just leaving, commander. I was hoping to make my report ....."

"Never mind the report for now. Have you seen Ryma? Was she in the shuttlebay?"

There was a pause while Paris shifted gears from reports to little girls.

"No sir. I haven't seen her. But I'll take a look in shuttlebay two just to be sure."

"Thanks Paris."

Chakotay entered their quarters calling his daughter's name. He checked her little room, under the bed, under his own bed, behind the chairs, under Kathryn's desk..... He stood turning circles in the middle of the room.

"Chakotay to Ryma." He tried his badge again. "Please talk to me sweetie, this isn't a game!"

Nothing.

*****

Back in sickbay Kes reported there'd been no sign of Ryma in the gardens. Chell had been tending all afternoon and he swore he would have noticed if the little girl had entered. She'd also stopped by the Mess Hall, knowing how much Ryma loved Neelix's cookies. The Talaxian had not seen the commander's daughter, but admitted he had been preoccupied with preparing the evening meal. Paris entered, saying that both shuttlebays were clear. The doctor, having disturbed the occupants of both holodecks, stated Ryma had not been seen.

Why wasn't she answering? Chakotay wondered. They had taught her from a very young age the importance of answering hails. She would not deliberately ignore him, he felt very sure of that, even if it meant the alternatives.....

Chakotay suddenly felt very afraid.

"Chakotay to Torres. Was the transporter affected by your tests this afternoon?"

'Please, please tell me it was offline,' he begged to himself.

"Torres here. No, transporters were all working, commander. You don't think that....?"

"Get down there, check it out!" Chakotay's voice was as cold as the feeling that travelled down his spine.

"But Chakotay! The transporter rooms are locked, there's no way she could have..."

"Torres! Please!" Then he calmed his voice. "Please just put my mind at ease."

In his mind's eye, Chakotay saw his little girl somehow getting into a transporter room, somehow fiddling with the controls, somehow activating the transporter beam ...

"Chakotay to Kim!"

Down in the Mess Hall Harry paused with his tray held out to Neelix, who also paused in his dispensing of supper. He was so startled he nearly dropped the tray.

"Kim here."

"Harry did you log any transporter activity this afternoon?"

"Uh..."

'What an odd question,' thought Harry, 'did he really think I would have without telling him about it?'

"No, sir. But I'm not at Ops at the moment if you....."

"Thank you Harry," came the curt interruption.

"What's going on?" Harry asked Neelix, whose eyes were wide.

"Little Ryma is missing," Neelix told him.

"Torres to Chakotay."

Chakotay was leaning against a biobed, racking his brains for some other place she could be. The problem was there were too many places, too many dangers. Voyager might be a small ship, but Ryma was a very small girl.

"Yes, Chakotay here."

"No sign of her in either transporter room, and the consoles in there indicate no transporter activity today."

Everyone, it seemed, breathed a sigh of relief.

"And the computer location beacons should be back online any time now."

"Thank you B'Elanna," Chakotay responded. He looked to the others.

"All points bulletin?" suggested Paris.

The doors swished open and Harry walked in, followed by an animated Neelix in mid sentence.

"...told him that I simply must aid the commander in his search and that aside from feeding the crew he must ensure that he keeps an eye out for the little girl. Why I remember a time she crawled right into the cupboard next to the....."

"Neelix," interrupted Kes softly.

"Computer! Locate Melanie Janeway," Chakotay tried again. There was a pause.

"Melanie Janeway is on Deck 12, in jeffries tube 3."

"What?" cried Chakotay. The computer, mistaking his alarm for a request to repeat the information, restated the location.

"Melanie Janeway is on Deck 12, in jeffries tube 3."

"The jeffries tube?" asked Harry, "How did she get in there?"

"Chakotay to Torres!"

Down in engineering, B'Elanna sucked in her breath. This was the third time Chakotay had hailed her, and each time he sounded more distressed. Around her, she noticed, her staff seemed to pause as if waiting to hear what had happened.

"Torres here."

"She's in jeffries tube 3 on your deck. I'm heading there now."

"I'll check it out," Torres said, swiftly moving over to the access doors for the jeffries tubes.

The crowd from sickbay, including the doctor, who'd paused long enough to grab a medical kit, followed Chakotay down to the turbolift. Chakotay was thinking of all the reasons why Ryma wouldn't answer his hail. She might be asleep. She might be afraid of being in trouble. She might be hurt..... Oh please, let her be asleep, oh please......

Entering engineering Torres was moving towards him. There was no sign of Ryma.

"Where is she?" asked Chakotay, his voice betraying his agitation. Torres held out her hand to reveal a golden triangle.

*****

"She could be anywhere on the ship!"

"She's had hours to wander around...."

"We don't know how long ago she lost that badge...."

"How did she even get into the tube?"

Chakotay listened to all the voices. For himself, he was finding it harder and harder to stay in control of this situation. Here he was, responsible for a ship of over 150 people, responsible for one very special small person, and he was falling to pieces. If something had happened to Ryma how could he live with himself? What would he tell Kathryn?

"How did she even get into the tube?" Harry asked again.

"That's hardly important now is it?" asked Neelix. "The poor little thing. Those tubes are nasty cold places...."

"It *is* important," insisted Harry. "If we knew how she got in, if we knew *why* she got in, then maybe we could figure out where she is now!"

"B'Elanna," Chakotay spoke up, silencing the others, "I thought the access doors to the jeffries tubes were locked."

'Just like the doors to the transporter rooms,' he thought.

"Well, usually they are," B'Elanna looked at her boots, "but for our tests this afternoon we had a lot of them open. In fact, with the computer acting up, we had the access all open on the ship."

"Oh boy," muttered Harry. Even Tom looked surprised. And Chakotay, well he looked like he was going to pop a gasket.

"What exactly do you mean by *all* open?" he asked in a tight voice.

"Normally, the power inside the tubes is on standby until someone enters. Each section is blocked off with locked doors. But this afternoon the lights were on in all sections, and the doors were all open, or unlocked, while we finished with the testing. Now it's gone back to standby mode. I can't explain how she got *in* though, because those access doors were all locked, except for ...."

"Except for?"

"Except for three, that were open at various times this afternoon while members of my crew were entering."

"Lieutenant, to have the sections open in such a manner is a flagrant breech of security."

Everyone turned to the new voice. Torres's brow darkened at the criticism.

"I needed to have the computer back online. I needed to have the power upgraded. I needed to test the response time of the sensor switchover. I did *NOT* need to worry about security!"

Chakotay reached out to lightly grab her arm, afraid she might strike Tuvok. That was all he needed to deal with.

"Tuvok," he said steadily, "I don't think we need to worry about the security implications just at the moment."

"Commander, I went to the Bridge to make my report, however, Lieutenant Rollins informed me that Ryma is missing." Tuvok judged from their reactions that the little girl had not yet been found.

"I'll hear your report later, thank you Lieutenant," Chakotay said stiffly. He turned back to B'Elanna. "Which ones were open?"

"Chakotay, I don't see how she could have gotten in without anyone seeing her..." Torres began.

"Well, she obviously did, now didn't she!" snapped Chakotay, "So which ones were open?!"

Torres turned to a computer console, calling up a blueprint of Voyager.

"These ones," she indicated with her finger where the computer flashed with a blue light.

"This one is closest to engineering," Harry said.

"What makes you think she was going to engineering?" asked Tom. "This one is closest to the shuttlebays, and the garden, both places she likes to go."

"Why wouldn't she just take a turbolift then?" shot back Harry. "I just thought that since her badge was found near engineering..."

"Wait a second, wait a second!" Chakotay tried to clear his mind. He tried to think. Ryma, Ryma what were you doing? Where were you going?

"We have to think as she would," put in Kes. "We have to enter her mind. And the mind of a five year old is not always logical to a grownup."

"She's on her way to sickbay with the other children," started Chakotay.

"But she doesn't want to go there," added Kes.

"So she goes some place to hide," suggested Harry.

"Where?" asked Tom.

Chakotay paced a few steps then returned to the computer console. He looked at the three access points thoughtfully. He reached up to touch the third one.

"Here. She entered here. She was trying to get to the Bridge."

"Why the Bridge?" asked Torres, thinking that it was a long way from deck 2 to deck 12 for that badge to drop.

Chakotay nodded, feeling more and more sure that he was right.

"Because I was on the Bridge at the time."

"Why wouldn't she just take a turbolift?" asked Harry again. "It would have been a lot easier."

"She does not have access to the Bridge unless accompanied by an officer," interjected Tuvok.

"You're joking," said Tom. Looking at Tuvok and then at Chakotay, he added, "You're not joking."

"Yes," breathed Kes, nodding as well, "yes that would be right. She's scared and so she'd seek out Chakotay. Since she couldn't get there with the lift, she'd try some other method. So she enters the tube and ...."

"And promptly gets lost," finished Torres dryly, "because you can't get to the Bridge from that tube. You'd have to go down here, and then across here, before trying to go up, here." Her fingers traced the route on the console.

"Why didn't she just hail me?" Chakotay wondered.

"So now what?" asked Neelix, anxiously.

"Do you think she's still in there, or is she wandering the ship somewhere else?" Tom asked. All eyes turned to Chakotay, he knew her best.

"There's no place on this ship that she doesn't know, so she can't be lost in a main corridor," he said slowly. "And if she was determined to get to the Bridge, then she would have stayed in the tubes. I think that's where she is." He turned to Torres. "You said that all the access doors are now locked?"

"Yes, they have been that way for at least an hour, maybe longer."

"So, she's lost, and stuck, and without a comm badge," Chakotay said. "Can we use the sensors to scan for her somehow?"

Both Harry and B'Elanna looked skeptical.

"Negative," B'Elanna said. "She's too small and those tubes run very close to all the rooms in the ship. All filled with people. If the ship was completely empty, maybe but ...."

"I don't think I can justify evacuating the ship just yet," Chakotay said, grimly. "Well then, we'll have to do it manually. On foot."

"On knees, more like it," murmured Tom under his breath.

*****

Hours later, as Harry shuffled along the tube, Tom's words came back to him. Harry didn't think he had any knees left. They were working in pairs, spread out over all 15 decks, each pair circling one deck at a time. Harry's partner was Tuvok, who was still disapproving of the breach of security protocol earlier. Whenever they passed each other he wasn't very talkative.

Two decks above Harry, Torres and the Doctor circled around to meet up with each other by the ladder that led down to engineering. She suspected his knees weren't chafing as much as hers. He was remarkably quiet, or perhaps not able to get a word in edgewise as Torres was muttering to herself continuously.

Somewhere above them, Kes and Neelix were taking a quick break while the Talaxian rubbed his knees vigorously. Kes was worried that something had happened to Ryma, the concern written plainly on her face. Neelix was trying to be comforting, but it rang out falsely even to his ears.

Tom and Chakotay had the upper decks in hand, not doing a lot of speaking whenever they crossed paths. It seemed to Tom that Chakotay's face revealed only a portion of the anguish he must be going through. Tom didn't even want to think about what they would do if they reached the end of this search without locating Ryma.

Out in the main corridors, all hands of the Beta shift were on the lookout for the Captain and commander's daughter, everyone being extra careful. There was a quiet on the ship. Not many were sleeping.

Tom was coming up to one of the main ladders when he heard over the cross-section, Chakotay being hailed by the Bridge. Hope sprang into his chest, to be dashed by the ensign's words.

"Commander, I have a transmission from the planet's surface. It's the Captain. Audio only."

"That's fine, ensign," said Chakotay wearily, wondering where she thought he might take a visual transmission. "I'm on." There was a pause. Tom swung his legs over the edge of the tunnel and watched as Chakotay leaned against the tube wall. "Chakotay here."

"Commander, I have good news. The trade negotiations appear to be near completion and it looks promising that we're going to get all of our supplies."

Chakotay closed his eyes, concentrating on keeping his voice steady.

"That is excellent news, Captain. A tribute to your negotiation skills."

It was a tribute indeed, considering the initial zenophobia of the planet's indigenous population.

"I won't be able to get out of the meeting in the morning, but it should just be a formality. I'm sorry I couldn't get to the communications earlier. I wanted to speak with Ryma before her bedtime." There was a pause, probably while the Captain considered the appropriateness of her next question. "Do you miss me?"

"Yes," Chakotay responded with such obvious need that Tom looked at his boots, embarrassed to be witnessing what should have been a private conversation.

"Chakotay where are you? This transmission sounds very peculiar."

Now Chakotay hesitated while he debated the need of telling Kathryn that their daughter was lost somewhere on the ship, and that she remained lost despite the efforts of the entire senior staff, all of beta shift -- and most of the rest of the crew as well.

"I'm in jeffries tube 4," he confessed. Both he and Tom were surprised to hear the Captain chuckle.

"Has B'Elanna dragged you into her engineering experiments? Honestly Chakotay, you cannot work *every* shift you know. There's something called sleep that is required."

"Isn't that just the pot calling the kettle black," commented Chakotay, rubbing his eyes.

"And you tell our chief engineer that I said so," finished Janeway.

"She won't believe that, coming from you," Chakotay replied, amazed at how easily he could deceive her. Janeway laughed. It was so incongruous with the situation that it seemed to echo harshly in the hollow space of the tube.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Janeway out."

Chakotay looked over at Tom. He felt numb.

"You lied to her," Tom said, shocked.

"She made an assumption. I just didn't correct her," Chakotay said shortly.

"You *lied* to her," repeated Tom shaking his head.

"There is nothing she could do but worry. I would spare her that," Chakotay's voice became low on the last words. "Let's go down one more."

*****

It was Tom who found her, in the end. He was just beginning to think that they'd spent their time crawling all over the ship for no reason, when he opened the door to section 14. The track of lights blinked on revealing the tiny form at the far end.

"Ryma!" he called, trying to speed up his pace. He considered calling Chakotay and then thought he'd wait to ensure the girl was alright. So he and the commander had that in common after all.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, he rolled her over. She was asleep, a worried frown on her face. Judging by the redness of her cheeks, she'd cried herself to sleep. Tom swallowed, thinking about how frightening it must have been for the small girl, alone in the dark, and lost.

"Paris to Chakotay, I've got her. I'm exiting through access 14."

"Tom," Ryma's sleepy voice spoke, "Tom, where's Daddy?"

"Is she alright?" asked Chakotay's strained tone through Tom's badge.

"Yes," confirmed Tom, "There he is sweetheart, and boy he is going to be glad to see you!"

Chakotay ran around the corridor to the access door, not caring about the pain in his knees. He arrived just as Tom tumbled out with Ryma in his arms. Wordlessly Tom passed the sleepy girl over to her father, who held her tightly, pressing their cheeks together.

Tom watched as Chakotay's lips moved soundlessly. A prayer? Tom didn't doubt it.

"Paris to Kim, she's been found, round in the troops."

"Daddy," Ryma asked, "why didn't you answer me when I called?"

Chakotay brought a trembling hand up to the little girl's chest, where he placed her golden triangle, touching it lightly.

"I didn't hear you Ryma...." he began, troubled.

"I called and called but you didn't answer. Why didn't you answer me, Daddy?"

Suddenly, it occurred to Chakotay where the communications had been lost.

"Sweetie, you have to hail me using my *name*. The computer doesn't know who 'daddy' is." When she still looked confused he clarified, "I'm Daddy, but so is Tom, and so are many other people aboard Voyager. The computer only knows us by our names. I will always answer your hail, Ryma, *always*."

With tired eyes, she looked down at the triangle, pressing on it.

"Ryma to .... Chakotay."

Chakotay's badge chirped. Ryma's eyes lit up with understanding.

*****

Janeway entered the Bridge feeling extraordinarily content. It had been a grueling week, but time well spent to see them take on their much needed supplies. She'd even been able to procure most of B'Elanna's engineering equipment.

The Bridge crew were subdued. Most looked surprised at her sudden appearance, but they also looked weary. She'd have to talk with Chakotay about shore leave for everyone, especially the engineering crew. Torres had been exhausted when she'd met the Captain in the transporter room.

After getting a status report, Janeway walked across to Chakotay's office, where she'd been told he was. When the door opened to her chime she stood in the doorframe taking in the scene. Chakotay sat on his couch, hunched over the small table, with a pile of PADDs spread before him. Ryma was at his desk, using his computer terminal, probably to play a game. Chakotay looked up when the door opened and then stood so abruptly that several PADDs scattered onto the floor.

"Mama!" cried Ryma with glee, abandoning the computer to run into her mother's arms.

"Captain," spluttered Chakotay, "I .... wasn't expecting you until .... later."

"I finished early," she told him with a smile. "Are you running the ship?" she asked her daughter, who giggled in response.

'If possible, Chakotay looks worse than Torres,' Janeway thought. Even Ryma seemed tired.

"What is the matter with everyone on this ship?" she asked, perplexed. "Are we so in need of a bit of leave that even our children are fatigued?"

"Well ..." began Chakotay. He paused and then continued with Janeway's questioning look. "Yesterday was particularly exhausting."

"Engineering?" she guessed, with a grin. Before Chakotay could respond his daughter gave him away.

"I fell asleep in the jeffries tube," said Ryma solemnly. Chakotay made a strangled noise. Janeway was so surprised she nearly dropped the girl. One look at Chakotay told her that their daughter was telling the truth.

"What?!" The question was clipped, short. Chakotay shook his head slightly, his eyes resting on their child.

"Not ... now."

Janeway stepped back to open the door and leaned out onto the bridge. She spied Harry Kim entering the turbolift.

"Mr. Kim!"

Harry turned back around at the sound of her voice.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Are you heading for the Mess Hall, for lunch?"

"Yes, Captain," Harry responded.

"Would you be so kind as to escort my daughter?" Was it just Harry's imagination, or had she emphasized the 'my' a little bit?

"Certainly," Harry agreed easily, holding out his hand for Ryma. She skipped across the Bridge to join him.

"I'll be along shortly," Chakotay told Harry, still inside his office. Harry nodded, but as he turned back to the turbolift Ryma heard him mutter,

"I wouldn't count on it."

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