I assume a few things in this story and took the liberty of creating my own character that will become an addition to the cast. There is not much Tom in this Chapter, but wait for the rest of the Saga. Not only will there be more Tom, but also some P/T.

Disclaimer: They all belong to Paramount except for mine, Casey Reid. She is all mine!! Mine I Say!! Rated PG

This story takes place in the 5th year of their voyage. It is the first chapter of this Saga.

Synopsis: When Voyager responds to a distress beacon, not only do they find a person far away from home, but they may have also found a way home. But this person has a strong link to one of the crew members that will change their lives forever. But a disaster is looming in the background……..

LIKE SON, LIKE DAUGHTER SAGA

CHAPTER 1

By Dani L. (daniellelaprise@sprint.ca)

Stars. Planets. Galaxies. Allies. Enemies. The unknown and far, far away from home. This what the Delta Quadrant represents for the crew of the Starship Voyager. After 5 years of traveling through space, they have come to discover that the unknown can be full of wonderful things and could also mean the end of their voyage, which has come close to happening on more than one occasion, but they managed to pull together and push away the enemy, in whichever form it took. With all the elements in their path, being good or bad, one could not stop and realize the changes in the crew. Some became more responsible, others a little more pessimist and others just simply grew and became the best officers and people. But one thing was sure, they were a family. A family committed to each other. And no matter how many obstacles they encountered, no one or nothing could take that away from them.

For the last 2 weeks, they have been traveling through Klaamar space. According to the space maps that Neelix had provided for them when he first boarded the ship, the Klaamar owed and governed a very big area of space, composed of over 10 homeworlds. Upon meeting with the Klaamar government, Janeway was somewhat pessimist that they would let them pass through their space. They gave her the impression of being distrustful, but she learned a long time ago, that impressions can be deceiving. Their request was simple and to the point, they only wanted to cross through Klaamar space, avoid a 15 month extension to their already lengthy voyage. Accommodating the Klaamar with all the information they required, such as a list of all the other races they have encountered, trades they have made and an historical background of the Federation and its members. In itself, it took 2 days to compile all the information they requested and an extra 3 days for the Klaamar to review it. But the 5 days spent gathering information and waiting to hear back from them paid off. They were given permission, but were told that some sectors of their space were unstable with high graviton waves and pulses and traveling through these sectors would require caution and precision piloting. Janeway smiled internally upon hearing this. When it comes to precision flying, she had an ace up her sleeve in the form of Tom Paris. They also had to abide by the laws and rules of the Klaamar, which were fairly simply to comprehend. If they wish to trade with one of the homeworlds, they had to make an official request to all the homeworlds and wait for the arrival of a delegate from each one. No trade will be excepted without all the homeworlds being notified. At first, Janeway had the impression that they did this because they did not trust each other, but finally, saw logic in it. If one of the homeworld trades with an alien race, or with each other, they must all convene to determine if that planet truly needs whatever is being offered in trade, or if another planet could use it in a more profitable way or simply out of need or necessity. Basically, the homeworlds were like any other civilization that lived on the same planet. They worked together to make sure that they were all equal and capable of sustaining themselves. After reviewing this information, it was decided that Voyager would not stop at any one of these planets, that they had plenty of supplies to last the 3 weeks it would take to traverse their space. Janeway decided that they would not be doing any trading, that be doing so, would only make their stay in the Klaamar space longer, but if they discovered something that was worth the stay, she would reconsider. But there was a little voice in her head telling her that they should just accept the offer of passage and go on there way. She didn’t understand where this feeling came from, she had no reason to suspect a trap or a hidden agenda by the Klaamar, but she decided not to dismiss the thought, simply keep it under wraps for now.

Janeway’s priority was, and will always be, to her crew and she was simply glad that she was able to avoid adding 15 months to their voyage. She could only imagine what that would have done to their morale. Neelix, the ship’s morale officer, would have been very busy if they had not been successful.

The bridge at this time as fairly quiet. They had just went through a few hours of intense graviton waves, but managed to get through them without any major problems. Tom Paris had again shown this excellent piloting skills, which saved them a lot of trouble. But from the readings of the space ahead of them, more graviton waves were present, and as they well know, they have a tendency to be unpredictable. Suddenly, from the silence that was hovering over the bridge, came a beeping alarm from Ensign Harry Kim’s post. Everyone turned in this direction to see what the sensors detected. The Ensign was visibly trying to filter through the information, as his eyes narrowed in concentration. He shook his head in disbelief. The Captain, who was now starring directly at the young man, was trying to read the expression on his face, but after a few seconds of silence from Harry, realizing that it was not like the young man to withhold information or being unable to read his console, she got up and worked up to his post.

"Ensign……", she said, walking up next him, taking a glance at the console at the same time. Harry quickly looked up and realized that he had totally blocked out the rest of the bridge and that Janeway was now standing beside him.

"Oh, I am sorry Captain. I am not sure what I have here….. ", he said, returning his attention to the console. "All I can tell you for sure is that it is an incoming signal, but due to the graviton waves, it is distorted and I can’t get a fix on it or what kind of signal it is."

"Try narrowing the band", suggested the Captain. The Ensign pushed a few more commands, and the beeping sound returned.

"O.K., I think I am getting something here….", said Harry, still working on the signal. "It’s coming from a small L class planet, located at 4564.9." He continued to extract information from his console. The Captain was still hovering over his right shoulder, trying to decipher the information as well. They were attentively reading the incoming information when suddenly, their eyes grew bigger and shock could clearly be read on their faces. At this point, only silence could be heard and everyone on the bridge was looking up at the Ops station, waiting impatiently for the Ensign to divulge the information he was reading from the sensors.

"Ensign, reconfirm this sensor reading," said the Captain suddenly, with a very serious look on her face. Chakotay knew that whatever the information they were receiving, it must be something serious, he knew the Captain was not the one to overreact in any given situation. He could also feel his impatience growing, wanting to go and stand beside the Captain and see for himself what caught her complete attention.

"Captain……", Chakotay let slip out, to remind the Captain where she was. She quickly looked at Chakotay, with a surprised look on her face, realizing in fact, that she somewhat did forget where she was for a few moments. A beeping noise came from Harry’s console and the Captain looked back down. Her and Harry exchanged a serious look.

"Ensign Paris, set a course for 4564.9, get us there as fast as you can taking in consideration the graviton pulses………" she ordered, making her way to her seat.

"Yes, Ma’am", the pilot replied, changing the heading and plotting a new course. He detected the urgency in the Captain’s voice, so he did the calculations as fast as he could.

"Heading 4564.9, at full impulse. ETA 33 minutes, if we don’t encounter any severe graviton pulses."

"Engage," replied the Captain, standing from her chair, walking towards the center of the bridge. She turned towards Harry.

"Confirmed?" she asked him. The young ensign quickly looked down at his console and looked back up to meet her glance.

"Confirmed", he answered, nodding. Janeway turned back and faced the viewscreen.

"The sensors have picked up a distress beacon…….. with a Federation signature", she said calmly. "The graviton pulses are limiting the sensors, so we haven’t been able to determine its designation yet."

"Any indication as to how long the beacon has been emitting?" asked Chakotay. Janeway turned to Harry, giving him the cue to answer the question.

"Not as of yet. The signal is somewhat weak therefore the reason why we just detected it. The only information we do have right now is that it is an automated SOS signal with the Federation signature. The fact that it is weak could be caused by the distortions from the graviton pulses or that its internal energy resource is exhausting, we can’t be sure. But the closer we get, I will be able to get more information."

Many thoughts were going through Captain Janeway’s mind right at that point. Possible answers to their discovery were taking form, some of them she liked, others less. But one thought was constant: Another Caretaker. What if there was another caretaker in the area, a mate to the one that initially brought them to the Delta Quadrant. Could that caretaker get them home? Or did the Federation ship get here by any other means? A wormhole maybe? With all the graviton pulses disturbing their sensors, could they have missed it? Did the sensors simply not detect it?

*STOP!* she screamed to herself. All this presuming was suddenly giving her a headache. She would hopefully get all the answers she needed once they reached the source of the distress beacon, that is if they were any survivors. What if they were too late and all they find in an empty ship or lifeless bodies?

Sounds coming from the Conn station brought her out of her daydream. She realized that she was still standing in the middle of the bridge, facing the viewscreen. She didn’t know how long she was standing there, but tried to forget about that and concentrate on the present. She slowly turned and sat back in her chair.

"Ensign Kim, as soon as you have more information………"

"Yes Captain," the young Ensign replied, understanding the Captain’s request.

As they approached their destination, the signal was getting stronger, but the sensors were still being affected by the distortions. The anticipation was growing in everyone on the bridge, wondering what they would find.

"Captain, we are in visual range", announced Paris.

"On screen," she replied, getting up from her chair and approaching the Conn station, standing just behind Ensign Paris, as was her usual stance.

"Harry, what can you tell me about the conditions down there?" asked Janeway.

"L class, no signs of civilization, very little vegetation and wildlife. The air is breathable. The weather conditions are within normal readings." The Captain absorbed the information.

"Would we be able to use the transporter?" she asked.

"If we are close enough, yes. But we would have to enter the primary atmospheric layer so that the graviton pulses won’t interact with it. I definitely would not suggest a shuttle, the graviton pulses would simply rip it apart." Maintaining Voyager that close to the planet will require precision flying to avoid the ship being pulled by the planet’s gravity. Voyager would need its best pilot at the helm.

"How long before you can get us in a stationary orbit?" she asked Tom, placing her hand on his shoulder as she so often does. Tom always liked it when she placed her hand on his shoulder. It gave him that sense of pride, that little nod of encouragement. It was almost as if the Captain was saying ‘You’re doing a good job and I trust you.’ Every time she did it, it always made him what to do even better. Ever since his demotion, he needed that even more. He didn’t dislike nor have less respect for his commanding officer, but he truly disappointed her and himself. He took his demotion and 30 days in the brig as he should have. But ever since, every time she places her hand on his shoulder, he could feel the bond strengthening to the way it used to be. He knew that the day would come when that "event" would be a thing of the past and all traces erased.

"About 20 minutes Captain," he replied, with a small grin on his face, trying to put aside the images that were starting to accumulate in his mind.

"Janeway to the Doctor".

"Doctor here", his voice replied through the intercom.

"Doctor, get ready for an away mission and be prepared for casualties," she said, hoping that the doctor's service will be needed. "We will meet you in transporter room 1 in 15 minutes and I will bring you up to speed then."

"Acknowledged Captain."

"Captain, I am now getting more telemetry," announced the young Ensign at Ops. Janeway turned to her officer.

"It's a Federation shuttle, its designation is the Romanov from the ........" he somewhat hesitated, processing the incoming information in his mind. Janeway could again read the shock in his face as before.

"The Enterprise-E," he said, looking up from his console to face the Captain.

"The Enterprise-E?" the Captain repeated, jumping up from her seat. She looked around the bridge. All eyes were on her.

"I am reading one faint life sign, humanoid", added Harry before the Captain could add anything.

"Tuvok, B’Elanna, you're with me," she said heading towards the turbolift. She turned to face her first officer when she noticed that he was rising from his seat, preparing to protest his Captain going down to the planet. When he saw the expression on her face, one of excitement and determination, he regained himself.

"You have the bridge Chakotay," she simply said, before joining her 2 officers on the lift.

"Yes, Captain," Chakotay said, before the doors closed, taking his position in the Captain's chair.

In Transporter Room 1, the Captain was bringing the Doctor up to speed as to what was going on. The EMH was absorbing the information and making sure that he had the necessary medical equipment with him.

"Chakotay to Janeway", came the First Officer's voice.

"Janeway here, go ahead Commander", she replied, interrupting her conversation with the Doctor.

"We will be in position in one minute. Tom says that the gravitational forces from the planet are very strong, he estimates that he will be able to hold position for no more than 10 minutes."

"Understood. I want a transporter lock on us at all time, and also be ready to beam the shuttle up to Cargo Bay 2. If we can salvage it, it will come in useful."

"Yes, Captain", he responded.

Upon approaching the Transporter pad, Tuvok handed the Captain a phaser. She looked at him with a questionable look.

"Just to be on the safe side, Captain," the security officer simply said. Janeway took the weapon and placed it in the holster on her uniform.

"Since our time is very limited, B’Elanna, I want you to check out the shuttle and prepare it for beam up. Tuvok, have a look around to make sure the sensors didn't miss anything. The Doctor and I will take care of the wounded." They all nodded in agreement. They all gathered on the platform.

"We are in position, Captain," announced Ensign Potter at the Transporter console.

"Energize," replied Janeway. A second later, she felt the familiar tingling sensation of the transporter.

As soon as they materialized on the planet, they felt the cold wind hit their exposed skin. The valley where they materialized had a desert look to it. Hardly any vegetation and the ground was covered by a dark red dirt and rocks. The dry, cold air caught their lungs off guard for a second, being so used to the clean fresh air on Voyager.

They quickly got their bearings and took in their surroundings. To their left was the shuttle in question. It was badly damaged with several burn marks on the side.

"Let's get to it", announced the Captain, walking towards the crashed shuttle. Tuvok put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"If you will allow me Captain," he said, taking out his phaser and walking ahead of her. She understood her Security Chief's concerns and obliged with a small nod. She also took hers out, as did Torres along with her tricorder.

The shuttle was laying deep in the ground, leaving behind it a trail where it had skidded before coming to a stop. The front part was covered with debris and dirt. Burn marks were very apparent, but its designation was still visible.

'Romanov - USS Enterprise 1701-E'

The smell of burned circuits and charred metal was very strong, Torres noticed. 'This couldn’t have happened that long ago', she thought, as she got closer to the wreckage, and the smell started to overwhelm her, but she quickly put that thought aside and started running through the information on her tricorder. She decided, due to the lack of time, to examine the structural integrity of the shuttle to make sure that transporting it wouldn't cause any more damage that would damage the shuttle even more and beyond repair.

Tuvok slowly approached the wreckage with his phaser ready in one hand and his tricorder in the other. In his mind, he wasn't expecting any danger, but he learned a long time ago, that one should always be cautious upon entering unknown territory, doing otherwise would not be logical, and that is how any good security officer would proceed. He felt the Captain's presence behind him, giving him a chance to secure the area. He knew that time was of the essence, but he had to be thorough nonetheless. He quickly glanced around and at his tricorder, absorbing surroundings and the information being processed by the tricorder. He slowly entered the shuttle through its open back hatch. The first thing he spotted was a still from laying on the floor, covered in several emergency blankets, leaning against the back bench. He quickly scanned the form for any weapons or electronic devices, but none were detected. He didn't know if the individual was alive or not, due to the fact that his tricorder was not locked on medical scan, but that wasn't his concern at that point, he know that the Captain and the Doctor could assess its condition.

"Captain..." he simply said, nodding his head, signaling for her to approach the unmoving form. He continued walking slowly towards the front of the shuttle. He quickly assessed that none of the terminals were functioning. The damage was extensive. The pilot seat was empty, determining that the individual behind him was at the helm. Based on the damage and the fact that the console was practically on top of the pilot seat, he wondered how that person managed to survive long enough to open the hatch and cover itself against the elements. Behind him, he could hear the Doctor and the Captain working over the fallen body. They were speaking energetically, meaning that possibly that person was alive. That thought quickly escaped his mind when he turned towards the navigational seat. The seen was horrific. The body was badly burned and contorted in a sickening way. Its head, or what was left of it, was laying on the console. It was so disfigured that he couldn't tell if it was a male or female. After assessing that there were no weapons and that there were no energy reading coming from any point of the shuttle, he took a longer look at the body in front of him. Being a Vulcan, showing any emotions would be alien to him, but he silently hoped that this person didn't suffer very long. He then realized that the console was even more pushed forward on this side and that it was almost touching the seat. That is when he saw that the console in fact had cut the person in two at the mid-section. Its legs and lower abdomen were laying on his feet. He surely didn't need a medical tricorder to determine that this person was dead.

'The Captain wants to salvage this?' thought Torres, while inspecting the shuttle. The exterior was badly damaged, some parts even beyond repair. 'I wouldn't even use that for scrap', she thought again. Its integrity was compromised in several areas, especially at the front, where it had impacted with the ground. She also noticed several particular markings. From what she could tell, they looked like a phaser or photon markings and her tricorder confirmed that diagnostic. Her attention was suddenly caught by other markings, these were more pronounced. She approached the navigational side of the shuttle and carefully examined them. They were definitely not caused by any weapon she has ever seen. Then, it hit her like a ton of bricks and she was somewhat taken aback, her breath caught in her throat. She saw these markings before, about 5 years ago to be precise, on Voyager.

"The Caretaker", she whispered to herself, shock and amazement written all over her face. She would have to do further testing to be certain and she also decided to keep this information to herself until then, she didn't want to get the crews hopes up for nothing just in case she was wrong.

Janeway didn't take her eyes off Tuvok, waiting for his signal that everything was safe for her and the doctor to enter. She could see the still form on the floor and she wanted so desperately to run to that person and help, if there was still someone to help. Harry had said that there was a faint life sign coming from the shuttle, but that was about 20 minutes ago. Many things can happen in that amount of time. She quickly turned to the Doctor, who was already running diagnostics on his tricorder.

"I am getting a very faint life sign", he said to her without looking up to her, repeating the words of the Ensign. She could almost see anticipation through his movements. Waiting there while someone was in need of him went against his program. Of course, he was a hologram, but she couldn’t risk sending him in first. He has his mobile emitter on, if that was damaged, he would again be condemned to spend the rest of the voyage home in sickbay. He was as indispensable as any other officer on her ship. Tuvok suddenly calling her brought her attention back to the task at han`d. His quick nod brought her adrenaline level up and she quickly made her way to the fallen form.

She kneeled down on one side and the doctor on the other. She slowly and carefully removed the blankets that were totally covering the individual. Underneath, she found a young woman.

‘She’s human’, was the first thought that popped into her mind upon seeing the bruised and bloodied face. She was wearing civilian clothes which were torn and bloody at many places. The Doctor was still hovering his tricorder over her. A grim look appeared on his face.

"Severe head trauma, broken ribs which have caused internal bleeding, shattered clavicle, broken wrist, cracked pelvis, her right knee is also shattered. I am also detecting bio-mechanical implants in her knee that are now inactive" announced the Doctor, reaching into his medkit and pulling out a hypospray. The young woman didn’t move a muscle as the doctor applied it to her neck. He also pullet out 2 dermal regenerators and placed them on her bloodied forehead. He then noticed the large gash there.

"Her pulse is weak and her blood pressure is very low", he added.

"Can we beam her up?" asked the Captain.

"I would prefer not to, she isn’t stabilized, but we don’t have a choice."

"Janeway to Voyager".

"Voyager here Captain, go ahead".

"Beam the Doctor and his patient directly to sickbay". The doctor placed his hand on the young woman’s arm and the familiar humming and glow of the transporter beam enveloped them and disappeared. Tuvok approached the Captain who was slowly rising, hoping the doctor could save the young woman

"There is a dead body in the navigation seat," he said, as the Captain approached the front of the shuttle. She cringed when she saw the state of the body.

"All systems are down", said Tuvok, passing her his tricorder so she could have a better look at the readings. Just then, B’Elanna walked into the shuttle.

" The integrity of the haul is compromised in many areas, but beaming it up shouldn’t be a problem," said the Chief Engineer.

"Chakotay to Away Team".

"Go ahead," responded Janeway.

"It’s becoming more and more difficult to maintain this orbit." Janeway turned and faced her 2 officers, they both nodded.

"OK, Chakotay, get ready to beam the shuttle t cargo bay 2, as soon as it is in, put up a level 2 containment field around it and beam us up as well."

"Yes Captain. We are ready". The 3 officers exited the shuttle.

"Energize", announced Janeway. A seconds later, they were all back aboard Voyager.

In sickbay, the Doctor started on his patient right away. She was in critical condition and he knew that time was of the essence. Once she would be stabilized, he would have to perform surgery to repair her damaged organs. The ship suddenly shuttered, they were losing their orbit he thought. Now was obviously not a good time to summon Ensign Paris to assist him, but he know that he would need someone to help him during surgery.

"The Doctor to Ensign Wildman"

"Wildman here Doctor", she answered.

"Ensign, I have a medical emergency in Sickbay and Mr. Paris is obviously not available…."

"I am on my way Doctor", she said, cutting him off and terminating the communication.

He would have preferred to have Tom Paris to assist him, since he has had much more experience in assisting during surgery, but Ms. Wildman was a very good assistant, slowly learning the ropes pretty much the same way Tom did when he started some years ago. This would also serve as a good practice and experience for her.

He continued to examine his patient, determining the exact nature of all her injuries and there were many of them. Her right lung was slowly continuing to fill with blood and that was his main concern. If it continued to go untreated, she will go into respiratory failure. He treated her broken bones as best he could for now. Just then, Ensign Samatha Wildman walked into Sickbay.

"Ensign, so glad you could come."

"Not a problem Doctor, anything I can do to help." They quickly transferred the young woman in the surgical bay and proceeded with the operation.

After beaming back to the ship, Torres headed directly to Engineering, to make sure that everything was under control, then to make her way to the shuttle bay to examine more in depth the damaged shuttle. Janeway wanted to go directly to Sickbay to assess the condition of the woman they found, but she knew that the Doctor would certainly kick her out, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to get any information from his patient for some time. She and Tuvok made their way to the bridge.

"Report Commander", she said as she exited the turbolift.

"The gravitational pull of the planet suddenly became unstable. We were losing our orbital stand. The stress on the haul was increasing to alarming levels and we were being pulled deeper into the atmosphere", Chakotay said, getting up from the Captain’s chair. "We are now back on our original heading".

"Good", she replied, sitting down in her chair.

"What did you find down there?" asked Chakotay, his curiosity building.

"The sensor readings were accurate. It’s the Romanov from the Enterprise-E. One survivor, a young woman, human. The Doctor is working on her now. There was also a dead body. We couldn’t tell what race it was." She grimaced again, seeing the body in her mind. From her expression, Chakotay concluded that the sight must have been horrid.

"Janeway to the Doctor", she suddenly said.

"Doctor here," the EMH replied.

"How is she?" she asked, with a note of concern in her voice.

"I am bringing her into surgery now. I will contact you when I am finished. Also Captain, Ensign Wildman is assisting me. From what I can tell, Mr. Paris has his hands full on the bridge"

"That’s to say the least," whispered Paris, heavily concentrating on piloting the ship through the graviton streams.

"Good thinking Doctor. I will be waiting for your report. Janeway out."

Janeway wanted answers and she wanted them yesterday. Her patience was growing thin. Whatever had brought the shuttle in the Delta Quadrant could still be around. But for how long? What ever it was, it might be able to get them home. Maybe there was a wormhole in this area. Maybe even a Caretaker.

"Mr. Kim, I want a level 3 long range sensor sweep of the whole area and contact astrometrics to do the same. If there is something out there, I want to find it," she ordered.

"Yes Captain", the young man replied, getting right to the task.

After checking in on engineering and picking 2 ensigns, Porter and Nicoletti, to assist her, B’Elanna made her way to the shuttle bay to start her examination of the recovered shuttle. She wanted to find answers as quickly as the Captain did. But a constant thought was in her mind. What if we do find a way home? What would her life be like? The thought actually scared her. When they were first marooned in the Delta Quadrant, she thought that she would never adapt, that she would go stir crazy. But things didn’t happen that way. Of course, there rough moments, but she learned from them. And now, after 5 years, she could actually say that she was happy. She enjoyed the responsibilities of Chief Engineer and the feeling of the ship roaring through space had grown on her, it practically became part of her. But the one thing that always brought a smile to her face was Tom Paris. She had finally come to realize that he wasn’t the self-righteous pig she thought him to be. He was actually one of the most unselfish, admirable, dedicated and loving person she had ever met. Her declaration of love for him had been weighing on her for a longtime before she finally gave into her feelings. Mind you, it took a near death experience for them to come out. She was reluctant to she that side of herself. But that was then, this is now. Today, she is in a committed relationship with the man she loves and knowing that all the feelings she has for Tom are mutual and that he loves her for who she is makes her one of the happiest people alive. She couldn’t ask for anything else. ‘What if we make it home?’ she thought. What would happen to her? What would happen to her relationship with Tom? That is something that she would deal with if and when the time came. She made herself return her thoughts to the task at hand. As she entered the shuttle bay, she took in the view of the damaged shuttle.

"I want a full diagnostic, download all the data from the computer banks and complete scan of the exterior haul", she said, getting her instruments out of her bag that she had grabbed in engineering.

"The Captain wants this information as soon as possible, so let’s get to it." Torres entered the shuttle and her eyes caught the bloody seen at the navigational seat. She had forgotten all about the dead body that was left in there. As the Captain before her, she grimaced at the sight. The smell of blood and charred skin was starting to overwhelm the cabin.

"Torres to the Doctor".

"Doctor here," he responded.

"I am going to beam the remains of the dead body from the shuttle to sickbay. Where exactly do you want it?"

"Beam it to stasis bay 1", the Doctor said dryly. She imagined that he was still working the young woman they had found.

"Acknowledged. Torres out."

Moments later, the body was gone, but the blood all over the set and floor was still apparent. She was going to have to clear that up if she was going to work at he console. Without another thought, she got right to it.

The surgery had been a success for the most part the Doctor assured himself. His patient was now laying on the main biobed of sickbay, the dome covering her to help the now healing process. One thing was bothering him though. After exploring her damaged knee, he found the source of the bio-mechanical reading he was getting when he first examined her. She had a prosthetic knee, but it was a design that he had never seen before. The prosthetic was composed of mechanical functions, they were intertwined with bio-mechanical components. All these components were assemble and precisely attached to her bones, tissues and nerves. The prosthetic literally become part of her. The Doctor wasn’t sure if he should even call it a prosthetic. Searching his databanks, he found reference to research on bio-mechanical device insertion onto the human body, somewhat like the Borg, to help an individual who was badly injured and lost an appendage, but it was still in the experimental stages. As of 5 years ago that is. Obviously, they had achieved their goal. But in this case, it was causing a problem. Most of the bio-mechanical components were damaged beyond repair and not being familiar with the prosthetic itself, the Doctor decided to remove it completely to further study it and hopefully restore it. For now, he placed his patient’s leg in a portable statis field preventing her bending it and simply keeping it straight and protected. He had decided to get right onto figuring the prosthetic out so that his patient would be able to be mobile once her injuries were healed.

He didn’t hear the doors of sickbay open, being to engulfed in his research.

"Doctor," said the Captain, stepping into his office.

"Oh! Captain", he said, looking up from the statis unit on his desk. He had only summoned her a few moments ago. He presumed that she must have ran all the way from the bridge.

"How is she?" she asked, slowly walking over to the biobed, the doctor following her.

"She is stable and resting comfortably." Janeway now had a chance to have a good look at he young woman that they saved. She looked to be around 25 to 30 years old of age. She had short length brownish wavy hair. The Doctor had taken care of the cuts and bruises and cuts on her face, all that was apparent now were slight patch of redness. The Captain had so many questions to ask this woman that she thought that by looking at her face all her questions would be answered.

"She was very lucky that we found her when we did, another few hours and she would have died," said the Doctor, bringing Janeway out of her daydream.

"How long do you think she was out there?"

"I would say a day, a day and a half at the most." The Captain maintained her focus on the young woman’s face even as the Doctor spoke.

"Doctor, can you wake her up?"

"I could, but I don’t recommend it. She has been through a very severe shock and trauma. In these cases, I prefer to let the patient come around on his or herself."

"Doctor, she might have information that could help us find a way home. Whatever brought her here might still be out there, and with her help, we might be able to pinpoint exactly what that is." The Doctor absorbed the information. Considering that that waking her up would not harm her decided to proceed with the Captain’s request. He nodded and reached for the hypospray.

"I must warn you that she is still very weak and may not be very coherent." The Captain nodded. The Doctor was about to press the hypospray against her neck when Janeway stopped him.

"Doctor wait. During the conversation, I don’t want to mane of the ship, names of crew members or our location mentioned. God only knows how she might react if she knows about our situation. You said that she was already in shock, I don’t want to make that matter worse."

"Understood Captain". He then proceeded with the injection that would revive his patient. It took a few moments before the injection took effect. The young woman started groaning and slowly moved her head. Her eyes were moving under her heavy eyelids. She was trying to open them, but there were so heavy and she was so tired, but something told her to wake up. She slowly opened them, but at first, all she saw was a haze. She closed them again, trying to refocus. When she opened them again, the picture was clearer. She saw 2 people standing over her but couldn’t make out their faces.

"Where am I?" she asked with a weak and raspy voice.

"You are on a Federation vessel. You are safe now. You sustained severe injuries, but you will recover in due time," said the Doctor, taking a soft and appeasing voice. She focused on one word: Federation vessel. She sighed with relief. Her vision was becoming clearer as she now noticed the uniform the 2 people were wearing.

"I must… speak with your Captain," she whispered.

"I am the Captain. Can you tell us what happened? What caused your crash?" said Janeway, with determination in her voice.

"They were firing at us………", she took in a breath of air. "Then, the sensors detected something, but we didn’t know what it was…….,then there was a flash of light." She was saying all this with her eyes closed, as if she was reliving it, with obvious discomfort. The Captain also detected a slight accent when she spoke, but couldn’t pinpoint its origin. "But that is not important right now," she added. She slowly licked her dry lips and took in another breath of air. "He is dead, isn’t he?" she asked, turning her head to the Doctor.

"If you are referring to your co-pilot, yes, he is. I am sorry," said the Doctor, putting a hand on her shoulder. She closed her eyes again. The Captain thought that the young woman was going to start crying, but she quickly opened her eyes again, and turned to the face the Captain.

"Captain, my name is Lieutenant Casey Reid. You must contact Admiral Jennings at Starfleet Headquarters right away on a secure channel. He must be informed of what happened here. You must take the shuttle and place it under tight security, do not let anyone near it. You will have to head towards the nearest Starbase at maximum warp. It is a question of Federation security." She said all this in one breath. The seriousness of her voice was eerie. For someone so weak, she sure did have determination. Janeway didn’t know exactly what to say, but only one thing came to mind.

"I will get onto it right away". She didn’t like lying to her, but she would have to keep up the façade for the time being. The lieutenant was falling back asleep, but suddenly, her eyes opened again.

"Captain, please, could you tell Admiral Jennings to tell Admiral Paris that I am OK. I don’t want him to worry." There again, Janeway didn’t know what to say. Her and the Doctor simply looked at each other. The Doctor mouthed silently the name of Admiral Paris to the Captain, making sure that he heard properly. They both looked down at the young woman who had fallen back asleep before the Captain could answer her last request. They didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Janeway suddenly headed towards the nearest computer port.

"Computer, display all information of Starfleet officer Cosey Reid," she ordered. The computer terminal flicked and the screen changed.

"Acknowledged", the computer replied. Suddenly on the screen, appeared a picture of a younger version of the woman laying in the biobed.

"Ensign Casey Reid. She must have been promoted in the last few years." Seeing this reminded that the computer banks have not been updated in the last 5 years. That brought a pain in the bottom of her gut, reminding her again how far she is away from home and how long it has been already. She quickly put that thought aside and continued reading the information in front of her. Her attention was suddenly caught by an entry in her profile. In the case of an emergency or injury, Starfleet headquarters are the ones that are advised first, and they handled advising the next of kin. But in her case, that clause was overridden. Janeway touched the screen to open the file with the information pertaining to the actions to take in such incidence. Janeway and the Doctor quickly read the information.

"Janeway to the Bridge", she said, still focusing her attention on the screen.

"Chakotay here Captain."

"What is the state of the graviton pulses?"

"They seem to have diminished for now Captain," Chakotay responded.

"Good. Commander, could you please send Mr. Paris to sickbay? There is something here we need his help on."

"Right away Captain. He is on the way."

"Thank you Commander. And Commander, tell B’Ellana to stop whatever she is doing on the shuttle and to raise he force field up again. No one is to get near the shuttle. I’ ll explain later. Janeway out." Janeway looked over at the young woman, trying to figure out the link to Admiral Paris. She know that she wasn’t his daughter. The Admiral had 3 children, 2 girls, Kathleen and Moira, and a boy, Tom, being the youngest. She was going to have to wait for Tom to arrive to have her questions answered.

To be continued in Chapter 2 of the Like Son, Like Daughter Saga.