Chapter Text
The tension is rising on the bridge, it's been a long year and it hasn’t helped that the Arodosians were the last ones to keep firing at Voyager for no reason, they didn’t respond to the first hail either. Tom turned around from his spot on the bridge, and looked scared to speak up. Kathryn understood why, she wasn’t in a mood to be talked to.
Trying to leave the frustration out of her voice, Kathryn asked, “What is it, Tom?”
“Ummm. Since we are out of the Arodosians space, and while we repair the ship. I have an idea that might raise at least senior staff morale. It’s that time of the year back home, so I thought that we could do a Secret Santa with the senior staff to get our minds off everything for a little while.”
Kathryn nodded her head. “Actually Tom, that sounds like fun. You’re in charge of it. But you need to organise it when you are off duty.”
Tom smiled and nodded his head with excitement. “Yes, ma’am.”
=/\=
Tom was in the mess hall and Harry came over. “Really? A Secret Santa Tom?!”
“Look, we get each other cheesy gifts and you get to choose your Secret Santa. I’ve made a randomiser to give you your person if you want to try it now?”
“Uh, sure. How do I do this?”
Harry sat down so he wasn’t uncomfortable leaning over the table. Tom gave him a PADD and showed him how to use the randomiser. Harry clicked the randomiser and the PADD thought for a couple of seconds before spitting out a name for Harry’s Secret Santa.
“Now Harry, you can’t tell me your Secret Santa.”
The PADD flashed with the name of Harry’s Secret Santa. The Doctor .
“Now at the bottom it says to remove the name. You need to remove the name from the draw so no one else can get your person and no one can be left behind.”
“Ok, so what do I do next?”
“You just get them a present. Easy as that. Guidelines are not extremely big and pretty much just don't waste your rations.”
Harry nodded his head. Clueless on what he was going to get the Doc for this silly game.
Tom got up and recycled his lunch and found the senior staff. At least he had an appointment with the Captain now that he can get her to pick out her Secret Santa. Tom decided to pick out his Secret Santa now and clicked the randomiser on the PADD as he walked into the turbolift and called out his destination. The PADD finally flashed his Secret Santa. B'Elanna .
“Damn. I can't do my big “I'm sorry" gesture.” Tom grumbled under his breath as he walked out onto the bridge. Knowing he has been the cause of stress for her lately with the Helm and Navigation.
As Tom sat down at the helm he turned back to the Captain, “ Look. I know you said I had to do this outside of duty but honestly it's the PADD choosing a name and you remember it, otherwise it will take a long time to organise.”
Kathryn chuckled to herself, “Tom, I only meant for the gift giving part to not interrupt duties! Of course you can give the people their names quickly while on duty.”
Tom chuckled with a little bit of fear, “Thank you, Captain. It will make this entire event move smoother.”
Tom walked over with the PADD in hand, “Captain, just press this button for the randomiser then hit the delete button to remove the name from the draw.”
Kathryn grabbed the PADD and started to do the things Tom said to do. The PADD flashed, Neelix . Kathryn forced a smile, removed the name and gave it over to Chakotay. “Thank you, Tom. We will get it back when everyone is done.”
Chakotay pressed the buttons that Kathryn showed him and the PADD came back with Captain Janeway . Chakotay’s heart nearly threw up, he was always planning a gift but how did the PADD know that?!
Chakotay deleted the name and walked over to Tuvok, showing him the buttons to press. Tuvok was swift in his actions and the PADD showed up with Chakotay . Tuvok’s shoulders slumped a little but he shifted back as though nothing happened. Quickly deleted the name and gave it back to Chakotay to give it to Seven.
Seven took the PADD harder than necessary and quickly got the name Tom which Chakotay saw not on purpose since she was being careless about it, then shoved the PADD back into Chakotay’s hands to give back to Tom while saying, “This is a waste of time.”
Chakotay made his way back to Tom, wanting to let him know however, he knows that it’s necessarily not going to happen. As the whole point of Secret Santa is the secrecy of the person you get.
“Here you go. Thanks for suggesting this, it might raise the morale on the ship, it's been a bit stagnant lately.”
“That's why I suggested it, Commander. Take our minds off the stress over the past couple of weeks.”
=/\=
Tom finished his shift on the bridge and was due to go to sickbay for a couple hours as the Doctor had requested it. With the Secret Santa PADD in hand he knew this is the perfect time to give the Doc his Secret Santa. He walked through the doors of sickbay, the Doc working on a biobed in the back.
“Mr Paris! I didn’t actually need your help. I just wanted to find out my Secret Santa!”
Tom chuckled a little bit. “Oh well I was going to let you do it while I was down here but once everyone gets their names I can set a gift exchanging date. Here is the PADD you press this button to get your name and you press this button once you get the name to remove the name from the draw.”
The Doctor took the PADD with excitement as the name that came up was Seven . He quickly deleted the name and gave the PADD back to Tom with excitement.
“Thank you! I will be working on it after I fix this biobed!”
“Good to see someone so excited for this! Have fun with your gift.”
Tom made his way to the mess hall so Neelix will get his name since he decided to make some dinner plans with B’Elanna tonight for some pizza. She has been so stressed lately that eating Neelix’s food would be the last thing on her mind.
Walking into the mess hall, Neelix buzzes around getting ready for the dinner service.
“Hey Neelix, you got 1 minute. Just need to give you your Secret Santa.”
“Oh, of course! And are you staying for dinner too?”
“B’Elanna has some other plans, not tonight. I’m sorry.” Tom quickly shows Neelix the PADD.
“Oh of course. I hope everything is alright.” The PADD gave Neelix his name, Harry . He deleted the name from the draw. “Have a great night, Tom.”
Tom smiled while looking at the PADD. “Thanks, I’ll see you in the morning.”
Tom turned around to head to his quarters to get the Pizza for B’Elanna and to send a message to the senior staff participating in the Secret Santa.
To: CoffeeAddict, MaquisWarrior, MaquisEngineer, Seven, Neelix, EnsignEager, EMH, CommanderLogic
From: FlyBoy
Subject: Secret Santa
Good Evening,
Hope this finds everyone well, I hope you enjoyed your choices on the people you got for our Senior Staff Secret Santa.
I have put the date for the gift exchange for 3 weeks from now unless something happens unexpectedly. If you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to contact me.
General Rules for Gift Giving:
- Not cost replicator rations more than 20.
- Doesn’t have to be extravagant, just a small gift is fine.
- If you still want to share gifts other than your Secret Santa that is ok.
I’m excited for what we will give each other, I hope you all have a great night!
Tom (FlyBoy)
Tom hit send on the PADD as soon as B’Elanna came through the door and the Pizza came out of the replicator.
“Uh, Tom?!”
Tom turned around with Pizza in hand. “Yeah?”
“I don’t have my Secret Santa yet.”
“It’s ok, you are the last one so I sent it anyway and here is the PADD. Now do you want to clean up before Pizza, I can keep it in the warmer for a little longer.”
“Yeah, I’ll clean up after I grab my name.” She grabbed the PADD and the name that turned up was Tuvok . She chucked the PADD on the table.
“B’E! I’m not meant to know who you got!”
“What am I meant to get Tuvok anyways?! Can you help? I won’t tell anyone.”
“I suppose we can let this slide. Go get cleaned up and we can have some dinner.”