SYMBOLS

CHAPTER 24

The turbolift stopped and the doors opened. The entire bridge crew jumped up and stood at attention.

Chakotay made the formal announcement, "Captain on the bridge!"

Janeway knew all eyes were on her. Throwing back her shoulders, she crossed the bridge, only stopping once she reached her chair. She glanced over the officers who were all standing at attention. The space station would soon be in visual range. It was time to hand over command. She nodded at Lieutenant Carlson and he took a step forward.

When she and Chakotay had met to discuss Tuvok's temporary replacement, Carlson had been their mutual first choice. Chakotay had known the lieutenant for a long time and had always found him to be highly competent, and Janeway acknowledged that his service record, since joining Voyager, was faultless. In Tuvok's absence, Carlson had been assigned to the position of acting chief of security. After all, he'd been apprenticed to Tuvok throughout the time he had infiltrated the Maquis. And although he was young by comparison, the very tall, dark-haired Carlson had already proven he was competent in weaponry, had a keen eye for detail and a high level of accuracy under pressure.

When they decided on the away mission strategy, Carlson's name was raised again. At that point, Janeway had met with him personally, to brief him on the mission and outline the proposed time frame under which they would rendezvous after returning the child to the surface and retrieving Tuvok.

Now Carlson stood in front of her, serious-faced and ready to take command.

Janeway knew the officers she had selected to fill-in for their senior counterparts were all highly competent. But it was never easy to relinquish command, even on a short-term basis, or to place Voyager into the hands of someone a little less familiar with her nuances. However, today, she'd do just that. She would hand over her ship to Lieutenant Daniel Carlson and place all further commands at his discretion. In her absence, Carlson would lead her crew until she, Commander Chakotay and Commander Tuvok once again reclaimed their places on the bridge.

She patted Carlson lightly on the shoulder.

"The bridge is yours, Lieutenant," she offered then exited, stopping briefly outside to pause and take in a breath

***

Only moments later, Janeway stood wide-eyed and open-mouthed in the doorway of her upturned quarters. She'd never seen such a state of disarray. A Borg attack would have been neater. It looked like the Malon had found a new dumping ground for their waste. Putting her hands on her hips, she turned in a circle, surveying her quarters, trying to remember what the transformed space had looked like when she'd last left it, only a few hours before. Almost nothing remained in its usual place.

Walking inside, she stepped over stray books and toys, displaced furniture and sentimental knickknacks, and seemingly mountains of food wrappers. She stared up at all the fragile items that had been relocated to higher places, then glanced at her and Tayna's clothes strewn haphazardly over the floor. Something sticky oozed from her replicator. She lifted the bed sheet that was draped over the dining table turning it into a child's play house.

"Anyone home?" she called, as she caught the sounds of a whispered voice and a muffled giggle coming from her sleeping quarters. She poked her head around the corner. Her bed now inhabited the center of the room. It was unmade and unusually lumpy.

She whipped back the bedcovers that overlaid two very obvious mounds. Two grinning heads instantly popped up.

In all her wildest dreams, Janeway could never have imagined the scene before her. When she left Tayna with Neelix they'd been playing a quiet game of kadis-kot on the floor. Now the two of them sat up in her untidy bed, Tayna wearing her spare uniform complete with captain's pips and Neelix draped in her bathrobe, a frightening amount of blue eyeshadow drawn over his eyelids.

Bursting into laughter, Janeway clutched her sides as her eyes swam with tears.

"Tayna wanted to play dress up," Neelix tried to explain as he hastily discarded the additional clothing, before he began to pick up some of the scattered objects on the floor.

"Neelix, don't worry about trying to clean up. You're supposed to be taking it easy. I'll deal with it later," Janeway said, still chuckling at the situation. She removed the few items he'd collected from his arms and dumped them on the table. "I do have a couple of questions for you, though. Why did you move everything breakable up high? I think Tayna's old enough to know not to touch things that don't belong to her."

"We were spinning in circles. I didn't realize how dizzy you can get until I bumped into that little vase on your side table. I didn't want anything else to get broken."

"You broke my grandmother's favorite vase?" Janeway checked, searching the room for the fractured remnants. "I guess that sort of answers my next question... Why you decided to move the bed."

"I'm sorry, Captain, I didn't want Tayna to hit her head on the wall."

"Of course, while she was using my bed as a trampoline," Janeway guessed.

She couldn't be angry at him. She'd been so worried they were going to lose him after he was shot on the bridge. And she knew Neelix always meant well. After all, he'd only followed her instructions. She was the one who'd asked him if he could keep Tayna occupied for a couple of hours. Next time she would just have to be a little more specific about what kinds of activities were acceptable inside her quarters. Next time she would... Suddenly she realized there wasn't going to be a next time.

Handing Neelix a tissue to wipe away the eyeshadow, she hugged him and said how much she appreciated his help. Then Neelix exited her quarters, leaving her and Tayna to get changed.

"Ready to go home?" Janeway asked, as she knelt in front of Tayna and did up the buttons on the child's hooded overcoat. She looked up at the little girl. Tayna smiled back at her and nodded.

Janeway brushed the stray wisps of Tayna's red hair away from her face. "It's going to be okay," she said, more for her own benefit, as she stood up and eliminated the creases from her cream dress. "Let's go!" She took Tayna's hand and grabbed her own jacket.

"Oh... I forgot something," Tayna said, rushing back into the bedroom and over to her portable bed. She lifted up the Talaxian doll. "Neelix said I can keep it."

Janeway looked at Tayna and the spiky haired, spotted doll cradled lovingly in her arms.

"Tayna, you can't take it home. It has to stay here."

"But Neelix said..." Tayna replied, tears welling in her eyes.

Janeway didn't want to separate the child from her comfort object. Perhaps if the doll had looked Anawin she might have risked taking it with them. But the doll represented everything the Anawin people reviled. It was different, rare and unique, just like Tayna.

"I'm sorry," Janeway said and gently removed the doll from the child's hands. She placed it back on the portable bed and watched Tayna put a pillow under its head and blanket the doll's body with her pajama top.

Taking Tayna's hand, they stepped over the various objects that were still scattered across the floor. The door slid open. Janeway stood in the entrance and glanced back into her disheveled quarters. She'd deal with the mess when she got back from Anawa.