Star Trek Voyager: The Mylar Cat. (Complete) (+Audiobook Option) (PG-Rated)

Star Trek Voyager: The Mylar Cat (2nd Edition) (Chapter 9)

The conference room was full and the senior staff were all in attendance for the morning briefing.

After  reviewing the routine ship's systems reports, the conversation soon  shifted to the most puzzling aspect of the previous day's events: Aki's unexplainable prediction of the attack, which turned out to be nothing  more than the result of mistaken identity; a monumental error by an  overzealous commander hoping to impress his superiors.
After a grovelling apology from the regional administrator, Voyager was given  full dispensation to continue on its way through the region, unhindered.

The discussion soon turned to Aki's unexplainable prediction of the attack.

"I'm telling you, Captain, he got spooked at least a minute or two before  the ship even appeared. Somehow he knew the attack was coming long  before we did," asserted Tom.

"It's true, he started panicking and told us danger was coming," confirmed B'Elanna.

Harry piped up, "He even pointed to the exact place in space where the ship would emerge  from. It was all far too accurate to be coincidental."

"I can't even begin to guess how he knew," continued Tom. "It was like he had a sixth sense or something."

Janeway  was intrigued by their explanations. "It's always been a widely held  belief that some animals have access to perceptions and intuition far  beyond our understanding," she mused. "Anyone who's ever owned a dog or  cat will likely have a story to tell about how their pet seemed to know  about something, long before they did. I wonder if Aki's feline traits have given him those same perceptive abilities."

"There  may be other explanations, Captain," interjected Tuvok calmly. "He  could possess latent telepathic abilities, perhaps sensing the hostile  intent of the approaching ship's commander. However, as a telepath, I  have not personally detected such abilities in Aki thus far."

"The  doc did a spectrographic scan of Aki's head when he first came aboard,"  suggested Harry. "Might be worth getting him to look at the results  again, see if it highlights any known telepathic traits."

"There  is also another possible explanation, one that could have implications  from a security standpoint," added Tuvok. "We must consider the  possibility that Aki is not what he claims to be and could, in fact, be  an imposter, perhaps even a spy, intentionally planted aboard Voyager. I  appreciate the suggestion may seem unpalatable, but it could explain  how he came to have prior knowledge of the attack."

The  room fell into tense silence. Tom's face flushed with frustration,  while Chakotay clenched his jaw, visibly unsettled by the suggestion.  The idea that Aki, this wholesome, achingly gentle cat-boy they had  grown to care for so deeply, could be an impostor or spy seemed  ridiculous to them.

Janeway  also raised an eyebrow, a little taken aback by Tuvok's idea. "That's quite a reach, Tuvok," declared Janeway, "but I do appreciate, as chief  of security, it's your duty to consider every possibility, no matter how  unlikely."

Tuvok gave her an appreciative nod, realizing his suggestion had ruffled feathers more than he'd anticipated.

Janeway continued, "I've not seen or sensed even an inkling of evidence to support that particular hypothesis, Tuvok."

"A  good spy will rarely offer up evidence of their intentions or show  their hand," argued Tuvok, feeling compelled to double down on his  suggestion. "But at the least, it does provide an explanation that  could be physically plausible, as opposed to some unexplainable and  mysterious sixth sense intuition."

Janeway  nodded. "I appreciate where your logic is rooted, Mr. Tuvok, but until  we have any actual evidence to support your imposter hypothesis, I'm  willing to give Aki the benefit of the doubt for now, and assume he is  innocent, and his precognition abilities came from another source."

"Captain,"  piped up Seven, "if the cat-child has precognitive abilities,  regardless of how they are sourced, exploiting those abilities could be a  valuable asset to the ship and crew. Any type of advanced warning may  give us a valuable advantage, especially for potentially perilous  situations, such as what happened yesterday."

"The  cat-child? Exploit him?" Suddenly protested Tom, sounding annoyed.  "Seven, he has a name. It's Aki, and I don't care what abilities he  might or might not have, he's still just a kid. Nobody is going to  exploit him!"

Seven's  ocular implant shifted upwards in surprise at Tom's outburst. "Forgive  me lieutenant -perhaps an inconsiderate choice of words. I am aware of  your fondness for the boy and I appreciate your desire to protect him. I  will endeavour to be more mindful in future. But my suggestion,  Captain, remains valid. If Aki's abilities are consistent and reliable,  they could be a valuable asset to this ship and crew."

Janeway  noticed Tom getting flustered and quickly intervened, gently placing  her hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, Tom," she whispered softly,  defusing his tension before it could escalate. "You already know our  first priority will always be Aki's well-being, but Seven does have a  valid point, and I would be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed  my mind."

Tom sighed,  his tension easing. "I understand, Captain. But Aki is just a kid, and  he's so delicate, so easily intimidated. Pressuring him into something  he probably doesn't fully understand—it just feels wrong."

"Of  course not, Tom," she replied gently. "We'd never coerce or force him  into anything. But Aki has expressed a desire to contribute to the ship,  and if he feels comfortable with it, this could be a way for him to  help in a meaningful and potentially significant way."

B'Elanna  chimed in, "he's mentioned that to me too, he wants to feel useful  and keeps asking if there's something he can do in engineering. He was  thrilled to run a few errands the other day, just couriering PADDs to  various crew members around the ship. He absolutely loved it."

Janeway nodded, "Well, before we make any further decisions, I'll discuss it with him, and see how he feels about it."

Tom  spoke up again, but he still didn't seem convinced, "I'm uncertain you  fully understand how sensitive Aki is, he's a total worry monster, he  worries and frets about everything. If we start putting big  responsibilities on his shoulders, it'll just worry him more. He'll lose sleep over it.

Janeway  looked at Tom with genuine warmth. "Tom, your concern for Aki really  touches me. It's clear how deeply you care about him and how much he's  come to mean to you. You have my promise that we'll approach matter this  with the sensitivity it needs. Thank you for being such a good friend  to him."

B'Elanna  chipped in again, "Tom's right about Aki, but I think we're seriously  overthinking this. We don't need to turn this into a big deal. All we do  is encourage him to contact the bridge in the event he has any future  precognitive experiences. We keep it casual and low-key, with no pressure, no  promotions to 'predictions officer' or any great fanfares.
That way,  Aki simply knows what to do if it happens again, no pressure, no  stressful commitments no worrying 'weight of responsibility' placed on  his shoulders."

There was a general nodding of heads around the room, as everyone, even Tom, looked more accommodating to the suggestion.

"I think that's a perfectly reasonable approach," Janeway spoke softly. She turned her eyes to Tom, "lieutenant?"

Tom  nodded, finally conceding to the idea, "Although, we are assuming an  awful lot here, captain. We don't even know if these precognition  abilities exist as a regular thing, or if what happened yesterday was  just a one-off."

"At  the very least, we'll need to wait until Aki has transformed back into  his humanoid form," suggested Harry. "Assuming he'll ever transform back  again; he did get pretty scared."

"Agreed,"  spoke Janeway, "and this whole matter needs to be handled delicately.  For the time being, I'm ordering everyone not to discuss this idea with  Aki. Let's just concentrate on giving him what he needs to feel safe  enough to, hopefully, transform back into his humanoid form again.
After  that, when the time is right, I will carefully try to learn something  about these assumed precognition abilities, and see how he feels about  what we've discussed here today."

Everyone nodded in agreement, understanding the delicate balance needed in approaching the situation.

"Dismissed."