=/\=

"Captain, a temporal distortion just opened inside Voyager," Seven of Nine reported from Astrometrics with the sound of alarm in her voice.

"What?" Janeway replied incredulously. Seven scanned the data and pounded the console furiously, trying to make sense of the sensor readings she was receiving.

"A large temporal distortion, about the size of a standard door, just opened inside the Carey quarters," Seven of Nine explained. Janeway was on her feet and hovering over Harry, as he too examined Seven’s findings.

"She’s right, Captain," Harry confirmed. "Right near Naomi Wildman’s bedroom." Janeway looked up in horror.

"Was anyone in the room?" she asked impatiently. "Did anyone fall through?". Harry paused, tapping the panel.

"Well, as far as I can tell," Harry stated slowly. "Naomi Wildman, Natalie Janeway, Blake, Emily, and Andy Paris, Seth Carey, and Noah and Anna Kim are no longer on the ship and their last coordinates was the Carey quarters." The members of the senior staff that were on the Bridge looked at each other in shock and horror. Their children were missing, again. Only this time, there didn’t seem to be any way to get them back.

=/\=

The sound of an engine awoke Emily. The world was a blur for a moment before her eyesight adjusted to the brightness of the day. The next sound she heard were birds chirping and people chattering. She looked up and saw Naomi leaning against the side of a building, unconcious. Blake and Natalie were next to her, laying on the side walk. On the other side of Emily, Andy, Noah and Seth were laying on top of each other in a heap. She noticed Anna’s blond head was near her foot, so Emily carefully moved it, as not to risk hitting the poor girl.

"Naomi," she whispered, shaking her softly. "Naomi, wake up." Naomi’s sparkling blue eyes fluttered and she moaned.

"Oh, geez," she groaned, lifting herself up. "What in the universe happened?". The others started to wake up, holding their heads in their hands, moaning and stretching.

"What ever it was, it sure packed a whopper," Blake responded, using one of his father’s catch phrases. Naomi stood up and looked at their present surroundings. They were standing next to a brick building on a cement sidewalk. In front of them was a large open area with vehicles that looked to be from the late 20th century or early 21st century. At the end of the sidewalk was a road that went in either direction, with the sidewalk running parallel to left. A large, tall sign was on the other side of the road and went about 15 meters up.

"Holiday Inn," Natalie said. "What’s that?". Naomi shrugged.

"Welcome to the Star Trek Expo," Andy continued. "Star Trek? Never heard of it." Blake walked down the sidewalk, towards the sign. When he reached the end, he turned left, and continued walking down that one. The rest followed him.

"Blake, what are you doing?" Anna asked. "We shouldn’t leave the area until we know what’s going on". Blake stopped and turned around.

"And how do you suggest we find out what’s going on?" Blake asked. "Stand around like a bunch of first-year cadets, thumbing through our guide books to find out what to do next? I don’t think so." He started walking again.

"Well, shouldn’t we at least talk to someone?" Anna insisted. "We shouldn’t just take off. Besides, the Captain might be looking for us." Two men were standing at the entrance to the building glanced curiously over at Anna. Anna realized she probably shouldn’t say too much. Blake decided to ignore Anna’s slip and went through the doors.

Inside, the lights were dim and it took several moments for their eyes to adjust. It was a small room, that adjoined with a hallway. On one side of the room was a long table with two women sitting behind it. On the other side was a smaller table with buttons and fliers. The group started drifting around, exploring the area.

Noah wandered over to the women and asked, "What’s going on here today?". The woman smiled.

"We’re having a Star Trek: Convention," she replied. "Kate Mulgrew, Avery Brooks, and Patrick Stewart are here today. They should be speaking in about fifteen minutes." Noah nodded his head and turned away.

"Anybody ever heard of Kate Mulgrew?" Noah whispered to Anna, Seth, and Natalie who were huddled over by the door. They shook their heads.

"Hey guys, look at this," Naomi said, motioning for everyone to join her. Naomi held up a flier with the faces of Captain Janeway, Captain Picard, and Captain Sisko on it. Natalie looked at it in shock.

"How in the universe did that get here?" she asked. Naomi shrugged.

"Do you think we should go in?" Seth asked. Naomi headed for the entrance, a sure sign the answer was yes. As they walked down the long corridor, the eight saw many unusual people. The most surprising ones were the people who were dressed in Starfleet uniforms from over two hundred years ago. Natalie couldn’t make any sense of it.

"It’s apparent we’ve traveled back in time, but the clothing…" she paused. "It’s rather…curious, for lack of a better word." Suddenly a large, black man with the ridges of a Klingon wearing a large silver Klingon army suit brushed passed them. Emily stared in amazement.

"This can’t be Earth," she gaped. "Everything is too strange. They didn’t have this kind of stuff." When they reached the door, an young man with large glasses stopped them.

"May I see your stamp?" he asked.

"My what?" Naomi asked.

"Your stamp," he repeated. "The one you received when you came in. From the women out front. After you paid your twenty dollars." He looked expectantly, but Naomi was baffled. Twenty dollars? What was that?

"Twenty dollars?" she asked inquisitively. "Oh! You mean money. That’s got to be what you mean. Um, you know what, I’ll be right back. Thanks." She motioned the group to the side, out of the doorway.

"How in the universe do we get money?" she whispered. "We’ll never get in without it." While the group was gabbing about way to get in, Andy began wandering around, looking for possible entrances. He spotted a door in the middle of the hallway and tested to see if it was open. It was unlocked, and he peeked inside. There, inside, was a crowd of people and on the far wall a small stage. Andy quickly shut it and ran back over to the group.

"Guys, we can sneak through that door," he whispered. Naomi glanced over at where he was pointing, and then back over at the entrance. The man was busy talking with a woman in a Klingon garb. Otherwise, the corridor was empty.

"Let’s make a run for it," Naomi whispered and she flew across the hall and threw the door. The eight were inside under record time. Naomi sighed with relief. No one seemed to notice or care. Natalie looked around carefully, to see if she recognized anyone. No one appeared familiar to her. The kids began wandering around, exploring both large rooms which were host to this curious people dressed in funny outfits that were similar to the ones on the ship. As Natalie and Naomi walked in the main room, they observed many new things. Long, large tables were set up and on them were photographs of Starfleet crew. Natalie examined them carefully. She recognized Voyager’s crew, and a few others. Captain Benjamin Sisko…Captain Picard…Captain Kirk and Spock and their crew, plus other people. Natalie couldn’t comprehend what was going on but they seemed to be from different versions of Star Trek, whatever that was.

"Hey, Natalie, look at this!" Naomi shouted from another table. Naomi was thumbing through headshots of the crews from the ships, but the names on them were different. A "Nana Visitor" handwriting was sprawled over a photo that was most certainly Kira Nerys. Naomi flipped to a photo and stabbed her finger at the headshot. It was of a four-year-old Naomi Wildman, except this time, the signature "Scarlett Pomers" was written on the left hand corner in black marker.

"That’s you," Natalie said. Naomi nodded in agreement.

"There aren’t any pictures of any of the other kids," Naomi replied. "Which would make sense, since I was six when Blake was just a baby." Suddenly, Anna ran up with a piece of paper in her hand.

"It’s a roster of today’s events," Anna explained. "It says they’ll start talking at 2:00 p.m. According to that chronometer over there-" Anna pointed to the large clock on the wall. "- That will be in ten minutes. Everyone is waiting in the conference room." Naomi and Natalie followed Anna into the next room, where the other half of the group was sitting in stiff chairs listening to a man talk. They couldn’t really see the man, but they could hear him quite well. Naomi listened intently, hoping to pick up some clues to help them uncover the mystery of their location and whatever Star Trek was. Of all characteristics known, persistence was one that fit Naomi Wildman perfectly. As for Natalie Janeway, alertness was her main feature, inherited by both parents, who featured outstanding alertness on the Bridge.

After several minutes of talking, it finally appeared that they would get a glimpse of the famous guests. The man who was speaking paused and everyone grew quiet. He jumped onto the stage and tapped his microphone.

"Ladies and gentleman," he began. "Let’s give a give a warm welcome to Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, and Kate Mulgrew!". Everyone cheered and yelled wildly as two men threw open the door and the honored guests walked in triumphantly, as thought they had won some great victory.

"Mom?" Natalie whispered as Kate Mulgrew stepped onto the stage and took the mircophone in her hand. The three stood in front of the crowd for several moments before everyone settled down and they were able to begin speaking. By that time, the eight were in such shock and amazement that they were too stunned to do anything.

"Oh my god," Blake gaped as Kate Mulgrew, their Captain Janeway, began talking. "It is Captain Janeway yet it isn’t Captain Janeway. I am really confused."

Emily smirked, "So what else is new?". Blake returned the comment by sticking out his tongue. She did the same.

"Guys, stop it," Naomi snapped. "We have to figure this out." They nodded their heads.

"So what do you suggest?" Seth asked. "Go up to them and say ‘Hi, my name is Seth Carey and I’m from the Delta Quadrant’?" Several people turned to them with their forefinger to their lips and Seth quickly quieted down.

"We can’t discuss this here," Noah added. "We should talk about this outside."

=/\=

Back on Voyager, the crew were still trying to figure out the disappearance the children. As the senior staff sat around the conference table in the briefing room, B’Elanna and Seven of Nine stood in front of the display screen with sensor readings displayed. All chairs and faces were turned towards the duo as they tried to explain the unexplainable. They explained the disappearances as being what they appeared to be. The children had fallen through a door in the space and time continuum. There was no telling where they had gone or how. All they knew was that that the rip in the fabric in space had some how taken the children and there was a slim to none chance of getting them back.

"I can’t believe that there is no way of getting them back," Janeway scoffed after she heard Seven of Nine and B’Elanna’s report. "Is there any way we can track down the specific opening? A frequency? Anything?". B’Elanna’s face looked grim and Janeway wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the news. Sadly, B’Elanna just shook her head.

"There has to be something we can do," Tom cried out, with the same youthful exhuberance he had when he first started on the long voyage home eighteen years prior. "They’re our children. We can’t just leave them there." Janeway raised her hand to silence Tom’s pleas.

"No one is saying we’re going to give up on them, Tom," Janeway assured gently. "We just need to figure out how to get them back. And that may take awhile. Dismissed."

=/\=

Transport to: Table of Contents | Chapter Three