<USS Avalon> "Lost and Found"

 
 
 
"Lost and Found"
Cmdr. Skyler and Tavi
 
 
Skyler had received her orders to  report to the new Avalon and to the 
Captain; however, she needed to stop in  sickbay for two reasons. One was to 
see how 
her sister was and the other was to  find out about the so-called stowaway. 
She had heard about this person but  didn't know all the details.
 
Walking into sickbay, she looked  around for  someone, anyone to tell her 
about her sister. As usual the  place was busy and no one was available. Taking 
it upon herself, she entered the  main sickbay area and found the cubicle where 
the stowaway was. She stood at the  end  of the bed and just looked at the 
person in the bed. Who was this  child? What did she want and why was she 
hiding 
on the Avalon?
 
Tavi had her eyes closed.  She  had been doing that a lot, just lying in bed 
and listening to the sounds around  her.  She was starting to not feel so 
tired all the time, but no one had  offered her anything to do, nor questioned 
her 
about how she had happened to be  where they found her.  She knew the 
Engineer was alive and was supposed to  be all right after a while, because 
she'd 
heard people talking outside her room  when they didn't know she was awake.

Someone had come in and was looking  at her.  The nurses did that sometimes, 
but they left after a moment.   This person didn't leave.  After slowly 
counting twenty breaths, Tavi  squinted her eyes open and looked to see who was 
watching her.  
 
"So, you are awake in there. I am  Commander Skyler, XO of the USS Avalon, 
the ship you were apparently hiding out  in. I hope you are feeling better. Are 
you up to some questions?" Skyler watched  the girl lie there and try to 
pretend nothing was going on. 

The little girl didn't know  what to make of this person.  It seemed she was 
going to be in trouble no  matter what happened, and this time she'd spent in 
the medical unit had only  been a little break in time.  But Commander Skyler 
didn't want to hurt her,  or at least seemed as friendly as a grownup could 
seem to a kid who didn't  belong anywhere.  Tavi shrugged a little and sat up, 
cross-legged, on her  bed.  
 
Moving to sit on the side of the  bed, Skyler sat down next to the little 
girl. "So, are you going to tell me your  name or am I going to make up 
something 
stupid like Farnsworth? No, that won't  do. That is a boy's name. I know, how 
about I call you Pollyanna? That sounds  like a good name for a girl. Now, 
Pollyanna, what can I do for you?" Skyler  hoped the girl would open up a 
little 
so she could find out where she came from  and why. 





"I have a name."  Her voice  was still husky, even days after  they'd taken 
the breathing machines away.  "Tavi." 
 
"Tavi. That is a nice name. Where  did you come from, Tavi, and why were you 
hiding out on the  Avalon?"
 
"From a station..."  She'd  been on so many, she couldn't remember exactly 
which one it had been.   And... how else did a kid get from one station to the 
next?  She shrugged  again.  "If I didn't hide, they'd space me," she pointed 
out, as if it  should be obvious. 
 
Interesting, thought Skyler. This  kid has been hopping from station to 
station via different ships. "Where is your  home? I really don't think anyone 
would space you." 
 
"Don' need no home," Tavi said  scornfully, refraining from pointing out that 
not all ships were Starfleet, and  even on Starfleet ships there were noncoms 
and civilians who might not be so  kind to a stray kid. 

"If you don't need a home, then  where exactly are you trying to get to? 
Aren't your parents going to be worried  about you?" Skyler wasn't sure what 
was 
going on with this kid but she hoped she  would open up and talk to her, even 
though she wasn't all that great with kids. 
 
Didn't this Commander know  anything?  "Station rats don't have parents," 
explained Tavi,  using the rude term so that maybe the Commander would 
understand.  She  herself could barely remember her mother, a nebulous memory 
of a very 
young  woman with the same brown skin and straight almost-black hair as 
herself.   But she'd run with a gang of other kids almost from the time she 
could 
walk, and  been on her own since she split with the gang to hop ship.  She 
thought she  must have been about six. 
 
"I see. A station rat. So  you just spend your time hopping on ships and 
traveling from station to station  in hopes of... oh, I don't know... finding 
some 
place to fit in?"  She didn't know what it  was, but there was something 
interesting about this kid. She was all alone, yet  she didn't seem the least 
bit 
scared or worried about it.
 
"Well, Tavi. It would seem  that we are going to be taking off again with a 
new ship. The Avalon-C. Do you  plan on joining us or are you going to jump 
another ship and take off on a tour  of the galaxy?"  Skyler almost felt like 
she 
wanted to take the kid under her wing but  wasn't sure how Tavi would feel 
about it.
 
Tavi could feel herself  almost freeze in place.  Was this... this Starfleet 
Officer  inviting her on board the ship?  For real?  What would they do with  
her?  The biggest question of all blossomed in her mind and burst out  before 
she could censor herself.  "Would I be able to learn how to do the  stuff the 
Engineer does?"

Stifling a chuckle, Skyler  looked at Tavi. "Eventually, I'm sure you would 
be able to learn about  engineering and such. But first you would have to 
attend school. We would also  have to get you cleaned up and fed so you don't 
look 
so malnourished or  anything. Then we have to find out if you even want to 
live with me. Do you  think you could stand to live with the XO?" She couldn't 
believe she had  just offered to let this kid she barely knew come to live with 
her. Was she out  of her mind or what?

"With you?"  Tavi plainly  stared.  "What would you do with a kid around?"  
It seemed apparent  that the Commander didn't have any kids of her own. 

"That is a good question, kid.  What would I do with a kid around? I don't 
have an answer for that question. It  just seems to me that you need someone 
and 
I don't see anyone else jumping in  for the job. Maybe I should just let you 
stay here on the station, I'm sure  you'll find another ship to hide on." 
Skyler turned as if to walk out the  door.

"Wait..."  Tavi was used  to thinking on her feet, but after being laid up in 
Medical, she was a little  rusty at it.  Still, she'd do almost anything for 
a chance to learn from  the Engineer. 

Waiting a moment before turning  around, Skyler wondered if she was doing the 
right thing by the kid and by  herself. The kid was right -- what did she 
know about having a kid? She had  learned from the best.  Turning around Skyler 
looked at Tavi, "You said  something?"

"Yeah..."  Having spent  all her short life in a decidedly marginal 
existence, the girl had learned to  trust her feelings.  And those feelings 
were 
telling her to go with this  woman.  The same sense that told her when her 
hiding 
place was about to be  discovered, told her now that she was allowed to stop 
hiding, and trust.   "You really mean that about wanting to have me around?"  

Smiling Skyler looked at Tavi.  "Yes, I really mean it. Between the two of 
us, I think we can become some kind  of family. That is, of course, if that is 
what you are interested in? There will  be rules and you will have to abide by 
them. You understand that, don't you? You  won't be just hitching a ride to 
somewhere new. You will have the chance at a  new life if you are willing to 
work at it." Skyler stood there with her arms  crossed across her chest. She 
still wondered what made her make such an offer or  to even think of it. Oh, 
well, 
what was done was done. 

The lower lip nearly trembled  into a pout, but Tavi controlled herself.  
"You're a 'path," she accused  softly.  Not that it mattered.  The Engineer was 
something like,  himself, though Tavi guessed he turned it toward his machines 
instead of  people.  "I..."  She ducked her head, trailing off.  

"I'm part Betazoid if that is  what you are talking about. However, that 
doesn't change how I feel or the offer  I have made. Do you have a problem with 
my 
abilities? -- if so, we can call  this whole deal off here and now. You will 
find that there is at least one other  on the ship and she is my sister. Now 
what were you going to say and why are you  hiding your face?" 

"No..."  The little girl  looked up again.  "I want to learn what you do, 
too.  If I can.   I can't hear things in my mind, only feel them here," she 
tapped her  chest.  "But I like machines best," she concluded, with perfect  
ten-year-old illogical logic.  

"What do you mean, what I do?  As in my duties, or my abilities? Feeling 
things is just as important as hearing  them. Can I tell you a secret?" 

"I can keep secrets," Tavi  promised solemnly.  She could.  She was still 
keeping secrets for  people who must surely be dead by now.  

Skyler moved closer to Tavi.  She looked around to make sure no one was 
around, then she spoke softly,  "Sometimes I wish I didn't hear people in my 
mind. 
Sometimes it is annoying.  Silly, huh?" 

"Do you hear them when you  don't want to?" the child whispered back.  That 
would be annoying,  indeed.  Tavi couldn't imagine not wanting that feeling in 
her chest that  warned her of danger.  It was a very useful thing.  

"Sometimes I hear them when I  am trying to concentrate on something else, 
but when I want to hear them, they  can be very helpful. They help me to help 
the Captain or others on the ship. I  can also tell if someone is attempting to 
lie to me or is hiding the truth. It  can be annoying, but it is a part of who 
I am so I have learned to accept it.  Why did it upset you so much?" 

"I'm not upset," said  Tavi.  "I just wish...  I wish I could learn  
everything."  

"I think that everyone feels  that way. Don't worry -- you will learn plenty, 
and if you are good at it,  when you are old enough I will sponsor you for 
the Academy if that is what you  want. You still haven't told me what you want 
yet."  

"I learned how to read," Tavi  offered helpfully.  "But I like the di'grams 
the best.  I can always  tell what they mean, even when the words don't tell 
you 'zacktly."  

"Well kid, I hate to disappoint  you but you're gonna have to learn the words 
as well as the diagrams. Can't have  you just learning part of something, now 
can we? So... what's it going to be?  You gonna come stay with me or hop on 
another ship and head out of here?" Skyler  hoped Tavi decided to stay with 
her, why she didn't know, but there was  something about her that reminded her 
of 
herself years ago. 

"No, I... I guess I could stay  with you.  For now," she added.  "And later 
if you want me gone, I can  go."  Though it would be pretty hard to give up 
being around the  Engineer.  Tavi wanted nothing more than she wanted to learn 
to 
do his kind  of stuff.  

"For now? Hey, when I make a  deal it's for good. I don't just make them for 
now. If I say I want to  you stay with me, I mean it. That is something you 
are going to have to get used  to, as well as the rules. Think you can do 
that?" 

Rules.  That was one thing  that would take some getting used to.  There had 
been rules when  Tavi ran with the gang -- that was one reason she'd taken off 
on her own,  because she didn't much care for some of their rules.  It seemed 
there  would be some pretty big trade-offs for getting what she wanted.   
But...  "I'll try."  

Looking at Tavi, Skyler  sorta smirked. "Well I suppose that's the best I can 
hope for. It's not going to  be easy for either of us but I think if we try 
we will manage to muddle our way  through. So grab what gear you got and let's 
blow this place." 

Tavi had absolutely  nothing.  A toothbrush, a comb, and the slightly-too-big 
pajamas she was  wearing, since the nurses would put the used ones in the 
recycler each time she  bathed and changed.  "Am I allowed to go?" she asked, 
scrambling barefooted  to fetch her comb and toothbrush from the 'fresher.  

"Yep, you are free to go, but  first let's replicate you some clothes. Can't 
have you walking around in your  jammies." Skyler replicated what appeared as 
a maintenance person's uniform for  Tavi and handed it to her. "Here, put this 
on and let's get out of here. I don't  know about you, but I can think of 
better places to be." 

Unselfconsciously, Tavi peeled  off her pajamas and skinned into the outfit 
the Commander handed her, oblivious  to the look on Skyler's face that plainly 
said the next acquisition would be  underthings.  Her bare little feet slid 
into the soft slippers the  replicator provided, and she was ready to go... 
following her new mentor into an  uncertain future.

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