Archive of Our Own ^beta

Janeway sighs, resigned to another very boring afternoon. Most of the time, she loves first contacts, but the one with this species is certainly not running as smoothly as she had hoped. It’s the third day of negotiations and they still don’t seem to be going anywhere.

“Yes, ambassador, I assure you, our ship is a mostly child-free environment. Yes, I took into account the fact that you consider it very improper to watch the smaller versions of the society members, so all of ours will be... no, no, we can’t put them in a separate place, but I can guarantee they won’t leave their quart... yes, they have quarters, not separate facilities, but trust me, you won’t have any trouble. Yes, you can come aboard with us, I already notified my second in command so they won’t be on sight.”

B’elanna makes a big effort not to roll her eyes, while Seven at her side remains perfectly still, the image of the borg perfection. They’ve been trying to convince them to seal the deal for so long the engineer is starting to think maybe she can do without their supplies. She’ll somehow manage to build the parts they need, as long as she doesn’t have to listen to another long round of diplomatics inquiries.

Finally, the Rakeen representatives agree to board with them, and the three women beam up with the 4 diplomats...

... only to find themselves inside far too big clothes, and looking at the world from a certainly lower height that they expected.

The alien diplomats shout in anger.

“Well, Commander, I don’t see why I shouldn’t drink coffee.”

“Aside from the fact that now you’re an 8 year old child?”

“Yes.”

“But I want to!”

“Coffee would be bad for you, Captain. Doctor, have you figured out what happened?” Chakotay decides to change subjects. Even in her state, Janeway’s glare makes him shiver.

Janeway puts her hands on her hips, feet not quite touching the ground from the bed she’s sitting on, while the doctor examines the now smaller crew, and Chakotay hovers around, worried. Tuvok has finally calmed the Rakeen and now have them walking around the ship, so all is fine, they just have to find out what happened so they can be adults again. And finding out certainly involves coffee if the captain is involved.

“I certainly can’t figure out what’s wrong. All your cells have reverted to a state that matches perfectly with the one of a prepubescent girl, in all three of you. Your memory center is intact, but certain behavioural parts of your brains are affected, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you started to act less your age, Captain.” The doctor frowns and keeps scanning them.

“I’m bored. I want to go to engineering. Surely Carey is having a blast with me gone!” B’elanna crosses her small arms, annoyed. If he as much as touched the plasma coil...

“And I’m bored too. I want to go do something, like play with Naomi. I promised her to play kadis-kot this afternoon!”

“But we need to stay away from the Rakeen sight, remember? Let’s hide somewhere!” Kathryn suggests, smiling a bit deviously.

“Captain, please, don’t run through your ship. Go to your quarters and I will maintain comm contact. I have all your instructions, so I’ll carry the negotiations.” Chakotay knows this will end in disaster. He just knows.

“I don’t want to hide! I want to play with Naomi!” Seven stomps the floor with her little foot and then runs away. The other two girls go after her, screaming gleefully.

Chakotay looks at the doctor, pleading. The doctor swells with pride. Finally, his time to practice fatherhood has come.

“I’ll go look after them, commander. You go with our visitors, I’ll make sure the girls are fine.”

Which is easier said than done, since the girls have already scattered. Seven has locked herself in Astrometrics with Naomi, but soon they both realized, neither brought the game inside. The doctor at least has faith they won’t do that much of a disaster. The other two, he can’t quite be so sure. First he finds B’elanna.

“Dear, I know this may be confusing for you, but I’m here to help. I’ve been researching about being a father figure, and I think...”

B'elanna makes it quite clear where she thinks he should stick his fatherhood.

Janeway has locked herself in her room and won’t allow anybody can enter except Chakotay. The doctor decides he better not test his fatherhood on her. Neelix decides to try it. Soon, Neelix needs counseling.

On the bridge, Chakotay smiles tightly to the aliens, nodding and showing them all the facilities and their technology. He’s starting to think B’elanna was right when she said she’d rather go without those parts, because it is just not worth it. 

Kim hopes this will mean he'll get to be captain of the night shift again and perhaps get a promotion. He points out to Chakotay that they need someone higher up on the helm now. That’s how Tom becomes lieutenant-Commander.

Seven meanwhile is trying to do science, and eating strawberries she just replicated. Naomi looks at her seriously and helps her clean all the fruit stains she was on her face.

“I don’t get food stains, I am perfect.”

“You do! You have strawberry all over your cheek!”

Seven is a bit worried the child body may reject the implants, but on the other hand, going to play with Naomi sounds more and more enticing every moment that passes. Maybe she could leave the investigation to the adults. The doctor will know what to do, after all.

“I think we could go to the cargo bay and nobody would notice us. I’ll race you!” Seven opens the door and runs, with Naomi following close behind and shouting.

They arrive there, breathless, and look around. So many interesting things, so much fun stuff Seven - no, Annika - never notices before. They decide to build a fort. The doctor will fix this, they can play while he does.

"Can I join you? I was looking for you aaaaaall around the ship!" They hear a voice outside the fort and an auburn head pops in. Katy looks a bit shy.

“Of course! Come in, Katy.” Annika smiles and brings her in, pulling her arm until Katy tumbles over her, laughing.

Something crashes the fort and they all have to hold the walls to keep it from falling. "Sorry." Lanna was actually trying to climb it and fell.

“Forts are for being inside! Come, come!” Annika tugs on her arm, and soon the four girls are sitting inside the small refuge they built for themselves.

Katy smiles mischievously.  "I stole a flashlight, we can do shadows. If they won't let us in the bridge, at least we can have fun." Katy shows it to them.

“Perfect! We can make shapes here. The bridge is irrelevant.”

"Not for me, but really, I can't touch the floor with my feet and feel so undignified." Katy pouts, but soon shrugs, and makes a shadow dog for them. "My sis taught me to do this."

“That’s awesome!” Lanna claps her hands and then holds her hand up and moves them back and forth. “Mine is a hawk. Daddy taught me to do shadows too!”

"I want to do one too!" Naomi has no idea what a hawk is, but it's so unusual to have friends her age she couldn't care less. She never played with shadows, but this seems even more funny than kadis-kot!

She makes two pointy ears with her fingers at the sides of her head, hoping it looks like Tuvok. The shadow doesn't project, but the other girls start laughing uncontrollably at that.

"Make Neelix now!" Lanna can barely talk between bouts of laughter.

Naomi tries, making what looks more like a turkey than anything else, using her fingers to make her nose look wider. Katy howls and shakes her head and then her eyes get bright. “Now do Harry!”

She starts making long sighs, shaking her head, and makes the mimic if playing the oboe sadly. The girls roar at that.

Annika throws her hands up and claps a bit. “Do the Doctor next!”

"But I have too much hair for that!"

She frowns and does anyway, complaining about not turning her program off and nobody knowing how to keep themselves alive, and B’elanna always saying she’ll decompile him.

“We all do! He doesn’t have any on the top of his head!” Annika actually sounds a bit sad for him as she pouts.

"He's happy like that, or he'd ask me to program him more hair. Or do it himself." Lanna sighs and roll her eyes dramatically. "I have to repair him every week because of his experiments."

“He wants to do it himself but he’d feel silly if he messed up! That’s why he does my hair instead.” Annika feels admitting she loves it when he braids her hair is the perfect thing to do. She should brag about having such a good friend, after all. He doesn’t braid any of the other girls’ hair, so she’s obviously special.

"Do me next!" Katy looks amused, but Naomi gulps. Such thin ice.

She still puts on her most serious expressions and holds a mug like a coffee cup. “I’m the captain and we can’t break rules except when I want to break them!”

"I don't break them! I bend them!" She claims with mock indignation. "You'll end up in the brig, young one!"

“Hey! I might be the oldest one here right now! The doctor says I am like a human 10 year old, so I’m your eldest.”

"For now! I'm sure the doctor will solve this." Annika is sure he'll sort this out.

“What if he doesn’t?” Lanna is suddenly worried.

“Irrelevant, because he will because he’s my best friend and because, because, because he will help me.”

"That doesn't mean he can do magic. His program is more limited than he thinks he is." 

“No it isn’t! You just all think he’s limited because you’re mean to him.”

Katy looks at the fight with interest. Really, he should have brought... how had Tom called it? Popcorn? Yes, popcorn. She should had brought some of it.

"He wasn't even able to leave sickbay before you arrived! He didn’t have a mobile emitter and he was aaaaalways grumpy!" Lanna sticks her tongue to Annika.

“Well, now he can go anywhere and he’s even commanded the ship before, which you haven’t done!”

"Only because he made a programming mistake! He was not commanding, he was fixing it!"

“But he did fix it and he saved everyone!” Annika stomps her foot a bit, hands forming into tiny fists. Katy widens her eyes but does nothing to stop the incoming fight. 

"Girls, please stop. Why don't we go ask Neelix for some sweets? I think maybe the mess hall will be empty at this hour." Naomi decides she has to be the adult one. It’s obvious the captain won’t be.

“Okay!” Katy cries decisively as she pushes open the front of the fort.

She decides to lead the group. She's the captain, after all. She is also wearing a mage cape and a hat they got in Naomi's quarters, because she needs to look dignified.

“You look like a queen.” Lanna assures her as she follows her towards the kitchen, pushing her own hair out of her eyes with one hand. She took a toy that sort of looks like a wrench from Naomi’s room. Annika keeps poking at her implants to make sure they’re still there.

They all climb to chairs and sit in one of the tables, taking the stances they've seen grown women do in old movies when they are together at a bar, gesticulating and laughing loudly, waiting for Neelix to come over.

Neelix watches them in amusement for a few moments before finally walking over with a wide smile. “Ladies, I see we’re having a party!”

"Oh, yes, we are having ladies night. And we'd like something to eat and drink." Katy feels so dignified, with her hat and cape and bright makeup. They are all wearing makeup or jewelry, courtesy of a very amused Samantha Wildman.

“Ladies night? Why, you girls are quite grown up. And what would you like to eat on ladies night? Cookies?”

“Champagne! We want to eat champagne!” Annika suggests with a wide smile, playing with the string of pearls around her neck. She knows that’s what adults have to celebrate and she remembers quite enjoying it at the last party.

Neelix smile grows a little forced. He likes kids, but he can smell disaster right now.

"I think you'd better drink a fruit juice. What do you say to a strawberry soda round for everybody?"

“All right.” Annika is a bit miffed, but she’s too excited about the strawberries to really care.

“I want ice cream too!” Lanna throws out.

"So, strawberry soda and ice cream for everybody? coming right away!"

There are four Rakeen on the other side of the room, glaring at them and talking in whispers. The girls all decide they don't like them while drinking their juice, since they don't like children. They look at each other and then Lanna blinks a few times, a devilish look coming into her eyes.

“Watch this.”

She flicks a spoonful of her ice cream at one of them when he glares at her. Her aim is shockingly good for a child, hitting the Rakeen square in the face.

Neelix gets paler and paler as he sees the chunk of ice cream fly. He calls Tuvok from the back of the kitchen in a panic, and hopes the situation will not get out of control before he arrives, as he sees the other girls prepare ice projectiles as well. The aliens are shouting, and the girls are throwing food.

Tuvok rushes in just in time to use himself as a human shield for Katy’s shot. He ends up standing there, ice cream dripping down his uniform. “Captain, I fear that was out of order.”

"They started it. They were looking at us and making rude comments." She won't let him intimidate her. The shot was fair.

“That may be, but as the captain of this ship, it is your job to create a hospitable environment, even for those whose manners do not line up with your own.”

Katy huffs and rolls her eyes, crossing her arms. She didn’t do anything wrong! She even smiled and nodded to them for three days straight while making Naomi hide in her room!

"Fine. But we still want to finish our ice cream, Tuvok."

“That will be allowable given that you follow the parameters suggested to you.”

"Very well. But we want them to stop making faces and whispering about us, then."

“I believe that could be arranged.”

"Thank you, commander." She looks a bit less imposing than usual, with the makeup, jewelry and the hat, but Tuvok sighs and goes to do what he's been told.

Katy smirks and turns back to the others, taking a sip of her juice and looking thoroughly pleased with herself. “And that’s how you handle conflict.”

"Throwing ice cream at them?" Annika really thought diplomacy was different.

“Sometimes, when they’re being jerks.”

"Efficient." She nods. It clearly makes sense, as always. The captain is a great mentor.

“And it’s more fun that sitting around and being nice.” Lanna snaps as she spins her ice cream around with her spoon a few times.

The girls see a new group of aliens walk inside and sit in another table. Were there that many when they first arrived? Katy could swear they were 4, and now she can count at least 7. There had been no talks about bringing another delegation. Did Chakotay make a decision to allow another group without consulting her?

Katy glances over at them suspiciously, moving a bit closer to Annika. Lanna prepares another spoon, even as Naomi shakes her head. “They’re just visitors. And we promised to Tuvok.”

"But there's something wrong, I just feel it. Maybe I should talk with Chakotay." She'd be a bad captain if she was so easy to fool. “He’s probably still on the bridge. We’ll have to go somewhere else to call him.” Katy stands up and looks determined, twisting her cap back.

One of the aliens cuts their way, looking at them nastily, and then moves, letting them go. Weird.

“They don’t like kids at all. That seems odd. Most species like children. Even the borg... in a way.” Annika whispers to Katy as they move toward the bridge. She was with her only the last day of negotiations, so she didn’t hear them explain their aversion to the youngest.

"They told us they send children to growing colonies until they are adults. Being seen before maturity is considered rude, so they don’t know what to do with us now. And we promised not to let them see children, before the accident." Katy shrugs, rolling her shoulders a bit even as a sense of unease comes over her.

There are even more of those aliens now in the corridors, but the adults don't seem to notice them at all. Katy is really starting to worry.

Now that she thinks about it, Neelix didn't notice the one that cut their way.

“Like the maturation pods?”

"More like kid cities."

Annika shivers a bit, shaking her head. “At least it’s not lonely.”

"No, except that being a child is considered the lowest social status. Hey, how many do you see? I counted at least 40 already."

“43! And I think more and more are coming.” Lanna cries as she runs towards one of them, barely stopped by Naomi.

They stop by a corridor, far from the Rakeen ears, and Katy tries to communicate with Chakotay, growing more and more impatient by the minute.

"Something's wrong. My combadge doesn't work." Katy stops them and make gestures towards a jeffrey's tubes opening. "Follow me, I think we better find out what's going on. We can go to the armory from here."

“Right. Maybe we’re invisible?” Annika suggests with a small frown, but then she shakes her head. “But Naomi’s mom and Neelix, and, and, and Tuvok could see us.”

"I think the crew can't see all the visitors we are having." Katy removes the lid and enters the tube, feeling how much more comfortable is to crawl, being 8 and smaller. The tubes seem made for her current size. "Lanna, go on the rearward and put the lid on again when you enter."

“Okay!” Lanna heads the other way and starts crawling as well. Annika keeps guard watch.

"Annika! You too! All of you with me. No staying in the corridors!"

It was so much easier giving them orders when they were older. This is like herding cats.

“Okay! But then who’s going to make sure no one finds us?” Annika asks, sounding just a bit scared of being caught.

"And if they find you alone, what? We are going to the armory first, girls. Follow me. You too, Naomi, you'll get your first phaser."

Naomi’s day couldn’t be any better. “A phaser all for me? Can I keep it even after you’re all back to normal? Can I?”

"Let first focus in repelling the invasion, Naomi." Katy realizes a bit too late she may have created a monster.

Annika grumbles as she crawls after her. “What do I get?”

"You and I are the best shots, so we'll get the heavier weapons we can lift." Katy is already cataloging in her mind which weapon will be best for each of them.

“Good! I’m getting the biggest phaser then!”

Katy makes a gesture for them to go silent and peeks down through one of the vents. Her eyes go wide open so the other girls run to her side, trying to see what shocked her. The engineering crew is tied up and apparently unconscious under them.

Lanna is ready to fight some people and balls her hands up into tiny fists. “Those are my people! What have they done?”

"Shh, quiet. We need to retake the ship in a smart way. I hope the armory is still free and we will be able to find something to fight our way back to the bridge." 

They don’t.

After what seems like countless corridors, they finally arrive to the armory, crawling out of a tub in silence. Lanna finally pushes her way through into the armory, and climbs onto a chair.

She looks at the weapons racks with horror. They are empty. She throws her arms up, barely containing her impulse to swear very unchild-like words. 

Katy bites her lip and tries to think of another plan. "If they stole our weapons, there's no way we'll be able to fight them, not being of this size. We can't overpower them. But we could use the computers to retake the ship. Let's climb up, I think the infirmary is our best bet. It’s two decks over here."

“Yes! They won’t have been able to stop the doctor. Guns can’t hurt him.” Annika crawls through toward sickbay.

"And I could access all computers from there." Lanna is confident in her abilities, even if so much crawling is starting to make her feel tired. She’d give anything for a short nap.

“Yes! And I can help too.” Annika says confidently, and smiles widely. “And Naomi and Katy can use medical tools as weapons.”

They crawl and every time they look outside a vent, either their crew is unconscious or tied up. They are starting to suspect there's a toxin in the air.

“It’s a toxin that only affects adults!” Annika whisper-shouts to Katy, grinning at the revelation, and pretty proud of being able to manage to shout at such a low volume too.

"Yes, but then they are probably searching for us. We must be careful and don’t split up."

“Yes! We have to be smart and quick.” Lanna murmurs as they arrive at the vent over the office.

Katy make gestures for them to wait. The sickbay is swarming with aliens, and the doctor is well beyond pissed.

"... no, I won't give you access to the hypos. I don't care what kind of threats you do, I'm a holographic being so I can't be... no, no need to be rude, I am quite a bit more than just a computer, thank you very much, bunch of brutes. I do have civil rights!"

“He does ha-!“ Lanna covers Annika’s mouth with her hands. This really is not the time to discuss holographic rights.

The aliens glance around the sickbay, searching for the cause of the cry, and the girls don’t even dare to breath.

"Girls, not one word until they are away. They have weapons. Now back away from the vent." Katy pushes them back, and they all scurry away until they stop hearing them search.

Then they slowly come back to the vent to make sure the doctor is all by himself. When they’re sure Katy reaches her hand down and waves at him, trying to catch his attention.

"Doctor! Lock the door and come here!" Katy whispers and hopes he understands her.

The doctor does, gaze pinched as he walks over to the vent. His eyes widen when he sees the four girls there. Annika waves at him happily, jumping down from the ceiling and throwing herself at his arms. “Seven! what are you doing? How are all of you still awake?”

"I figured it out! They don't like children because they are immune to whatever they are doing. Am I smart or what?"

The Doctor helps the other girls come down, putting them on the floor and watching them work.

“Yes, as always you’re quite brilliant. Which means - B’Elanna, what are you doing?”

"We need to gain access to the computers again. Captain's orders."

Katy nods. "I need you to give me a full report of what's happening out there. How’s the bridge?"

“The Rakeen started arriving in droves a few hours ago, but it seemed the rest of the crew was unable to notice them. They took over engineering first and then made their way through the rest of the ship. The toxins are fast acting and coming out through the ventilation system. I lost all contact with the bridge over an hour ago, and they have been trying to pressure me to give them access codes for the computer and the propulsion system.”

“Where are the toxins being emitted from? Engineering?" Katy frowns.

“Yes, engineering. I tried to work on shutting off the vents myself but I don’t have access. Luckily they don’t seem to know a lot about holographic technology, so all the threats they’ve done to me have been quite empty.”

Katy thinks. Four girls and a hologram against a whole alien swarm. The odds don’t seem that good, but then again, she’d fought singlehandedly for all her ship before. This is 5 times more people than when the viruses invaded them.

"One of us could crawl to engineering, but we need to plan it well. We are outnumbered and weaponless. Doctor, is there any chance you could find a toxin that could make them sick? so we could change what's coming out of the vents while awakening our people. My guess is they actually had the toxin on them when they arrived with us in the first place."

“Yes, yes, luckily I treated a few of them after they got hit by an icy abrasive, before we knew they were trying to ambush us. I think I could find a formula that could knock them out without causing real damage.”

"Would it be poisonous for our crew?" Katy already has a plan, but it's a big gamble. If her crew is sensitive to that...

“A bit, but not enough to do any long term damage.”

"How long until they fall asleep, and how long until our crew starts getting ill?"

The doctor runs a couple simulations, having to stop and hide his work twice because the aliens keep coming to pressure him. Finally, he calls the girls out of the place they are hiding and shows them the toxin, that’s mixed with a solution to counteract the one the Rakeen have been dosing the crew with.

“It will take about 15 minutes for the aliens to feel drowsy, and 45 minutes for humans to start feeling sick. Vulcan may be a bit more resilient, I hope the effects will be delayed at least half an hour.“

"And if the toxin leaves their system, how long until our crew wakes up? I think we'll have to time this very carefully."

“About 25. It’s not long lasting for humans, at least.”

Katy nods, making the calculation in her head. They will have only 20 minutes between the crew wakes up and they start getting sick again, so the ship will have to be retaken in that frame of time. They will have to split, no matter how she plays the scenario in her head. Finally she makes up her mind.

"Very well. Prepare as much vials as you think we could carry of toxin. Lanna will go to engineering first, and then 10 minutes later Naomi, Annika and me will release doses on the other decks. I'll take the upper one, so I can free the senior staff. Once our crew wakes up, Lanna will tell engineering what happened so they regain control of that deck first. We’ll have to make sure to execute this plan in less than an hour, so we will all carry commbadges and watches to be in contact and count the minutes. The doctor will release his own doses from here."

“Okay! That sounds like a plan. Are we going to wear masks?” Lanna wants to stay awake to see them as the heroes.

"No, you’re immune. I suspect all the things they said about not liking children were just an elaborate ruse.” The Doctor works fast while he talks.

Katy weights his words. “That’s good, but we need to make sure they don't spot us, so we'll have to keep moving through the tubes. We didn’t even manage to secure a single phaser, so we are extremely vulnerable. You will be the most important part of the plan, Lanna, so if you don't see our crew start to wake up, you'll have to tell us. Our people will have very little time, and there will be a delay between them waking up and the aliens falling asleep."

Lanna clasps her hands, nodding her agreement with the plan. “Right! We have to be fast! Okay, on the count of five?”

"And what will you carry, if the doctor hasn't made the vials yet?"

“Oh right. On the count if five when the doctor is done.”

The doctor rolls his eyes. "Go hide until it is done, and stop making noise. They will come back if they hear you, and I don’t need even more delays."

Annika hides underneath his desk and whispers at him from below. “Hurry, Doctor.”

"Shut up and let me work." They hear the door open again and they all hide in different places, trying not to make noise.

This time, the aliens don’t quite go away, and if one leaves, another one enters, with any excuse to hover around, sniffing the air and pressuring the doctor. He works as quickly as possible, sliding vials under tables and through holes to the girls.

"This? This is a common flu hypo we learned how to do 4 systems from here. Nothing to worry about. I was just trying to replenish our stock, since it’s been a while since anybody entered sickbay and I was getting bored." The doctor smiles at the Rakeen guards and stops working until they leave again. “Here, four done, four to go. That should be enough to regain control of the ship.”

"Keep them occupied here, and in 15 minutes, fire your vials."

The girls all go each to a different deck, checking carefully the time. Lanna takes a double charge, since her part is the most critical one.

She runs as fast as she can while also checking carefully. She even takes her necklace off so it doesn’t get in her way.

She arrives at the vent and lets the vapor flow on engineering, getting our as soon as she sees the first ones stirr. "Carey, it's me, B'elanna. Don't let them know you're awake, in 5 minutes they will start feeling dizzy. We need to take control of this room first so the captain can retake the bridge. Pass the message on, I’ll come back and cut your ropes when they start falling."

She goes back into hiding, and Carey discreetly passes the information to the other crewmen, and they keep still until their captors start showing signs of being tired. She taps her combadge and transmit the small sound the girls agreed to use as a signal her mission was successful, cuts their ropes, and waits for her crew to attack.

Annika releases the toxins in her area, waking up the science crew. She explains the situation as quickly as possible. And at the end she smiles brightly and holds her hand out. “A phaser please, if you’re so kind.”

Katy waits until Tuvok wakes up, far sooner than any human, and tells him the plan. He neck-pinches all the aliens on the bridge, so when the rest of the senior staff wakes up, she is sitting on her chair, sipping a decaffeinated coffee the vulcan prepared for her.

She smiles brightly and explains everything as Annika comes to the upper deck too. She waves brightly, and climbs onto the chair next to Janeway, taking the second officer place. “Science is good and the bridge is secured. Can I have a strawberry soda, Tuvok?”

The vulcan looks at her flatly. He's not a waiter, after all. She insists. "Comply, please?"

Tuvok rolls his eyes and finally goes to the replicator to prepare the drink. This day is getting longer and longer, even though he spent part of it out cold. Annika smiles and sips her drink.

"Any news from Naomi?" She hasn't answered yet and Katy is getting nervous. Her combadge is not connecting. “She was in charge of the cargo bays. We should go there and check.”

They call Lanna to ask her to transport them and the Doctor to the cargo bay. None of them have weapons, so they get ready to fight whatever they find there. When they arrive to the place, they see two of the remaining Rakeen have gas masks on and they’re holding Naomi in their hands, who is trashing and shouting at them angrily. She's trying to put her most brave face while clutching the vial.

"Let the girl go and we'll forget about this incident." Katy puts her most authoritative voice, but somehow it doesn't sound the same in an 8 year old, because they don't even flinch.

“If you don’t comply, we’ll assimilate you.” Annika tries while tapping the metal on her face.

The aliens snort at that. No, clearly that threat is not quite effective either. Annika glares and marches toward them, trying to look as borg as possible, only for the Doctor to hold her back.

One of the aliens start shaking Naomi's arm, who tries not to cry, and then he suddenly falls to the ground, unconscious. Neelix comes from behind him, looks at the pan in his hand and smiles. 

“I told you several years ago I was extremely useful and resourceful, Captain, didn’t I?”

The other turns only to find Lanna's teeth sinking deep in his leg. He screams and tries to shake her away, and then he has a face full of pan before he can snap out of it.

Katy smiles widely at them and then immediately runs over to Naomi. “Are you all right?”

The girl has teary eyes but puffs her chest out, trying to look her bravest. "Yes. I didn't scream and I was not afraid. But I couldn't launch the vial. They were already looking into the tubes when I arrived here."

“You did good anyway. What a brave assistant I have.” Katy tells her that with a smile as she offers her a hand up.

"Now, please, can you go back to your normal selves? I'm sure the Doctor must have at least an idea about how to revert the process." Tuvok is starting to feel like a babysitter.

“Of course he does! The doctor can do anything!” Annika proudly grabs his hand while they walk to the infirmary.

The doctor actually has no idea how to revert the process. Nothing seems wrong in his scans, he can't understand why the transporter malfunctioned, and Lanna swears the problem was not on the engineering end.

“Well, something had to cause it, and none of my tests show anything.” The doctor insists as he does another scan while several of the engineering team examine the transporter.

"Maybe it was the aliens fault. You all went down to the surface and came back a bit after the dignitaries. Maybe they put something on your drinks down there, or detonated something when they transported?" Naomi wonders.

Lanna runs to a computer and starts to run several tests, asking the Doctor for data and looking at the results, a smile growing wider in her face. Finally she grabs Naomi’s arm, excited as she starts marching towards engineering with everybody following her. 

“She’s right! They did this to us by accident when they transported the toxin in their backpacks, because it reacted to their atmosphere! We just need to go back where we went carrying the antidote!”

"We can't go to the surface! They will capture us! Is there a chance of transporting somewhere else?" Annika clutches the doctor's arm.

“Possibly. We would need to know what exactly affected the three of you to reverse the conditions though. There were at least 5 unusual elements in their atmosphere.”

Katy nods while following them. "Lanna, try to figure out a way of reversing this without going down the planet."

“Okay! We’re on it!” Lanna marches toward the computer, she kneels on the chair and starts typing, trying to isolate the particles.

"Ok, I think I got it. If we find an M planet with these specific 2 elements in the atmosphere we can transport there and back and with these specifications, everything should work. The other 3 are not relevant, so it shouldn’t be hard to find one."

Three days later, they find a planet that matches what they need, and start orbiting it, ready to revert the process. Lanna enters the transporter first, nervous and excited at the same time. She wants to be an adult again so she can be in charge. Carey had been trying to pose himself as an authoritative figure on engineering and she can’t have that happening.

She comes back with her full age. She rolls her head on her shoulders, pleased with herself. "Perfectly safe. Go there and I'll see you in a minute."

Katy goes next and comes out herself with a smile. Finally. Caffeine is now just minutes away from her. She’s been missing her coffee so much nobody dared to come close to her in the last 24 hours. She glances at Seven - Annika. “Your turn.”

Annika doubts a bit. She feels so free, so happy. So... Herself. Away from the mandate of perfection, of the memories of her assimilation. She finally shakes her head and enters the transporter.

She knows she needs to be an adult again, even if it means losing this sense of self and freedom. Maybe she’ll regain it someday.