Once Upon A December
"Any problems going through there Tuvok?" Kathryn asked her tactical officer.
"Sensors do not detect anything that will give us any problems." Tuvok replied in his usual flat efficient tones.
"Take us in Mr Paris." And let's hope Tuvok's right about there being no problems. Nebulas had a notorious reputation aboard Voyager. Deservedly so. Usually things had a habit of going a little "Ca-Ca" when Voyager was in the middle of them.
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An hour later, at the end of his duty shift, Lt Tom Paris entered the mess hall. things had been quiet on the bridge since entering the nebula, For once, when flying through one nothing was going wrong, no temporal rifts, no surprise attacks, nothing out of the ordinary. That made for boring flying and he was glad his duty shift was over.
He spotted B'Elanna and Harry siting by one of the windows eating, or rather, pretending to eat one of Neelix's 'Surprise" casseroles. These casseroles had been given the name Surprise by Jenny Delany because as she put it, 'It's better to be surprised by what is in it than to know what is in it." Tom tended to agree.
"Hey Tom, what do you know about these Faberge eggs this nebula's named for?" Harry Kim, Tom's best friend asked. 20th Century history wasn't his strong point. Tom sat down next to B'Elanna and contemplated his own Surprise casserole before answering.
"Not a great deal. Only that they were made by Karl Faberge and were given as Easter gifts to each other by the Romanov family. That was the Russian Royal Family until the Russian revolution."
"I saw a holo image of a couple of them at the Academy. They were very beautiful. I can see why Ensign Zukovsky named this Nebula after them." B'Elanna Torres said as she gave up trying too eat and pushed the tray away from her.
"The Romanovs' " Harry said consideringly "weren't they all killed during the Revolution?"
"Only the immediate family. Although there were rumors that the youngest daughter, Uh, Anastasia, survived, but no one was ever able to prove it."Tom replied grimacing with distaste as he tasted the casserole. "My sister Kylie was into Russian history for awhile. She drove the entire family nuts talking about it. I tuned out most the time. Although she did make me sit down and watch two versions of 'Anastasia'."
"Anastasia?" B'Elanna enquired.
"Yeah. Movies that basically had the same plot. An unknown woman is picked up by con artists to impersonate the Grand Duchess Anastasia and is taken to Paris to meet the Dowager Empress and turns out to actually be Anastasia. Pretty much fantasy really."
"20th Century films. I'm sure Kylie didn't have to twist your arm for that." B'Elanna teased. Harry was grinning at Tom as well. It was no secret that Tom considered himself something of a 20th Century affictionado. Tom grinned sheepishly.
"Well actually she did. For the second one at least. I thought she wanted me to sit through the same movie, but the second one turned out to be animated and was kind of funny. History was Irelevant, to borrow a page out of Seven's book, but it was still fun."
"What does this expression mean, to take a page out of Seven's book?" demanded Seven of Nine as she stood behind Harry.
"It's a human expression that means you re using someone else's phrase." Harry explained patiently. Harry had more patience with Seven than almost anybody else aboard Voyager. "tom was telling us about an old earth movie about a Princess."
"A really independent princess too. Kind of reminds me of you B'Elanna." Tom deadpanned, but the mischeivious glint in his eye gave him away.
"I'm no Princess." snored B'Elanna deciding she'd get him back later. In private.
"Tell you what, how would you like to see it?"
"What, the Princess?" She replied pretending not to understand the question.
"The movie. We can go to the holodeck and see it on a screen like they did in the 20th Century. I'll even replicate some popcorn, my treat." He added this as an inducement.
"Make it chocolate instead and you've got yourself a deal helmboy." B'Elanna wasn't sure what popcorn was, but it sounded suspiciously like something Neelix would make. Chocolate was a safer alternative.
"You're invited too Harry- and Seven."He added as an after thought
"Sure Why not. Holodeck One in a half hour?
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"Have you heard there's a rumor in St Petersburg?"
B'Elanna was stiffling giggles from the image of a man with frozen underwear. "Looks like I'm not the only that has trouble with the cold." she whispered when she got herself under control. At that Tom grinned. He was glad B'Elanna was having a good time. He had extended the invitation for the movie to the Captain and Chakotay but they had declined. Which upon reflection wasn't a bad thing. He was beginning to discover just why movies were so popular in the 20th Century. Necking. Up on the screen Dmitri was singing about finding a girl to play the part. "This guy reminds me of someone. I wonder who?" B'Elanna teased quietly.
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"If we hurry we may still make Tom's movie." Chakotay suggested. Kathryn and he had just finished going over the latest crew evaluations.
"Why not?" Kathryn agreed. She could do with some light entertainment. As Kathryn and Chakotay left the bridge for the holodeck they failed to notice a slight blip of the sensors. Nothing that would normally be of any concern, but in the true tradition of Voyager and nebula, a few things were about to go "ca-ca".
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Kathryn and Chakotay entered holodeck one just as Dmitri and Valdimir slid down a roof singing about the biggest con in history. Kathryn was instantly reminded of the holographic Disney movies she had seen as a child. Not wishing to disturb the two couples seated in front of the, Kathryn and Chakotay sat up the back and quickly became engrossed in the movie.
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Just before Anya was about to break into the palace things went a little Ca-Ca'.
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Kathryn Janeway was sure that her eyes were playing tricks on her, One moment Anya was a petite redhead and the next she was a petite brunette. With Klingon ridges on her forehead. A quick glance at Chakotay confirmed that she wasn't crazy. He was obviously seeing that same thing she was.
"Computer, freeze program." No reply. "computer arc." No reply "Computer end program." Kathryn wouldn't be so worried if she knew where B'Elanna had gone, or Tom or Harry or Seven for that mater. But at the moment Anya had turned into a Klingon all four of her crew members had dissapeared. 5min later after unsuccessfully trying to leave or contact anyone outside of the holodeck or to freeze the program, Kathryn and Chakotay sat down to watch a slightly altered version of Anastasia. At least they now knew where Tom and Harry were.
Tom, now known as Dmitri, was in the middle of conning B'Elanna, now Anya, into going to Paris as Anastasia, and poor Harry, now Vladimir and a few pounds heavier,was being caught up in Tom's or rather, Dmitri's plans.
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Tom's brief description about this movie and the princess in particular had been right on the money Kathryn thought as Anya/B'Elanna gave Dmitri/Tom a hard time about walking to Germany. She had to admit that although they were definetly not acting like themselves, her crew had been cast to type by what ever had happened. When Anya had whacked Dmitri in the nose on the train Chakotay had given a smothered chuckle. She was however still worried about Seven. She soon found her, also a few pounds heavier and now known as Sophie. Apparently she and Vladimir/Harry were crazy about each other. "Oh God," she thought as she watched four of her bridge crew sing and dance their way trough an animated Paris, "I'll never be able to look at them the same way again."
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Almost at the end of the movie, just after Anya/Anastasia/B'Elanna had killed Rasputin, Voyager exited the Faberge nebula.
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The Grand Duchess Anastasia was once again a redhead, much to the relief of Kathryn Janeway. She could hear confused laughter coming from her crew as they witnessed the albino bat gain a friend. The credits rolled and the house lights came up. Kathryn and Chakotay made a hasty retreat, exiting the holodeck before the others realized they were there. She could tell by the look on Chakotay's face that she wasn't gong to be the only one to have problems looking her officers in the eye for a few days. Just before they were out of earshot they heard Tom
"Why is my nose so sore??!!"
Finis