Engi-Daycare

Posted on Mon Sep 7th, 2026 @ 6:36pm by Lieutenant Commander David Erickson & Chief Petty Officer Chloe Delacroix & Lieutenant Karane Inda

2,333 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X07: Feeling Like a Kid Again
Location: Main Engineering

David stepped out of the turbolift and rushed into Engineering, thanking whatever gods were watching that he still had a good stride. As he came around the partition, he stopped cold. A little blonde girl was standing in front of him, holding onto her coveralls and looking terrified. "Cid?" he said, slowly.

Big brown eyes stared back from the nine-year-old face looking up at him. "Y-yeah," she said. "What happened?"

"We're not sure, but it's happening all over the ship," David said. "Just stay at your station for now."

"I can't reach my station," she squeaked. "Not that I usually can easily," she added. She sighed and padded her way over to a chair, dragging it to a console and doing her best to climb aboard.

David went further into the bay, looking around. "Karane?" he said. "You all right?"

"G... G.. Go away!" A tiny voice which was at an unusual high pitch squeaked back. It was coming from behind the control console for the ships power relays. It wasn't exactly against the bulkhead, as it sat away from the wall. However a small gap was present that only a young child or very small adult could crawl into. It was however too small even for Karane or the other engineers to usually get into.

David followed the voice and came around the console, looking confused. He knelt down and peered through the gap behind the console, seeing a small blonde figure curled up and hiding. "Hey, hun," David said. "Drop a tool back there?" he said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Something... like... that," Karane's squeaky voice emerged from the darkness.

"Well, I have good news, and I have bad news," David said. "The bad news is that something hit us and we've regressed a few years."

There didn't come any response. But it was obvious just from her hiding position that this had happened to her too. After a few seconds there was a simple sniffle.

David smirked. "The good news is you and Cid can share wardrobes."

"Not funny..."

He held out his hand. "C'mon. You're Chief Engineer, I'm a skilled star-looker-atter. You riding on my shoulders, we can accomplish anything."

There was a brief pause and then a shuffle. Finally a very tiny version of Karane, and by tiny she could just see the control panels on the consoles, reaching them would require a two stepped stool. She was very petite, and her hair was considerably shorter. Now, however it was in two tiny pigtails just above her shoulders. She looked no older than a child of age five, perhaps six years old.

Tears glistened in the corner of her eyes and her face was brightly flushed. "D... don't look at me like this!" She squeaked.

David gave her a smile. "What? Like you're adorable?" he said, grinning. "Like you're just the cutest little thing I ever--" He stopped as his head snapped around and he felt the sting on his cheek. He looked back at her angry, but undeniably adorable, face and winced, but smiled. "There's my girl," he said, rubbing his cheek. "Now, are we done sniffling? Shall we see what state we're in?"

Karane pulled back her hand. She didn't even know why she had slapped him. It had been impulsive. "Sowwi..." she sniffled. "But I can't reach the consoles..."

She looked over at the main systems diagnostic console. Then she looked over at David. Her arm raised up and her finger pointed at the console. "David... Uppies?"

David sighed. "Well this was only a matter of time," he muttered. He grabbed her under the shoulders and lifted her up. "Good thing I've had practice with Kyleigh and Lilly," he said, half to himself. He held her up against him, then spun her around and held her around the waist so her arms were free and braced his knee against the console. "Okay, have at it," he said.

Karane's cheeks turned s brighter shade of crimson as she reached forward. "No tummy tickles!" She warned him.

"No promises," he whispered.

After that being said she began to toggle switches and bring up a status report on the ship. "Ship seems fine. Nothing bwoken. Warp core stable. Everything seems ok." She said as her tiny hands pressed button after button. Her bright hazel eyes rushed from left to right as the screen on the console showed system status after system status.

She seemed to relax a little becoming slightly limp in his arms. "You can put me down now..."

He gave her a small squeeze, hugging her, then put her gently to the floor. He looked over to see Cid making her way over nervously, her coveralls tightened as far as they could go, and the pantlegs rolled up, making her look even smaller than she was. A few other engineers were in similar states, although a few were, thankfully, taller than a five-year-old.

"Are...are they sending us us home? Am I going back to the orphanage?" Cid said, quietly, her usual chipper attitude completely dampened.

David blew out a lungful of air at the weight of that question, but looked around. "We don't know what happened, but no one's going anywhere," he said. "Those of you tall enough to reach the consoles, good for you. Keep doing that. Anyone who isn't, go...find a stepstool or something. Just, nobody freak out, okay?" He shook his head slightly, thinking he could've said that better, but was too freaked out to care at the moment and looked back at his now considerably-younger girlfriend. "Okay, Karane, I'm here to help out. If you need me somewhere, just shout."

"You heard him people!" Karane said as she placed both hands on her hips and held her head up high. "We are still Starfleet Engineers!" She said proudly as she puffed out her now very flat chest. "So. We keep the ship wunning! No crying! Once our Captain gives us owders we do what we can!"

She pointed at a nearby Engineer. "Anderson. You're tall. You're on warp core duty!" She pointed at another engineer. "Jameson. Wun a level wun diagnostic on the ships sensors." She gradually moved around giving orders to each engineer before her finger finally rested in David.

"David. We've got to grow up quickly. So you're on milk run duty! Full cweam for me!"

David's jaw dropped a bit. "Coffee? Really?" He looked around and shook his head. "Fine. Back in ten," he said, heading for the mess hall.

"Not coffee!" Karane called after him. "Milk! Miillllkkk!" She wasn't sure if he had even heard her calling after him. She wasn't even the biggest fan of drinking milk, but for some reason she had developed a strange craving for the white stuff. She placed both hands on her chest. "Maybe, if I drink milk now, when I get bigger again, these will be bigger too?'" She muttered to herself.

She then entered into a little giggle fit of excitement, as she was one hundred per cent that her plan would work, right before she was interrupted.

Cid walked up to Karane and bit her lip. "What do we do in the meantime?" she said.

"We find a stepstool. And if we can't find one. We make them." Karane said holding up her index finger. "Because we need to see the consoles to do stuff!"

Cid nodded. "Right..." she looked around the room. "Oh!" She rushed over and grabbed her tool kit and then went to the wall, detaching several access panels from the wall and dragging them over to Karane. She then ran and got a duranium welder and quickly put two panels together, welding them at the corner, then a third, making a basic C shape. "Step!" she said, happily, putting the level step stool onto the floor by the main console.

"Yay!" Karane exclaimed happily. "Step!"

Several heads turned in surprise at hearing the very squeaky Karane exclaiming outloud and being so happy and cheerful. Gone was the Tsundere and potentially hostile personality they had become accustomed to. It was slowly starting to be replaced with energetic, happy and a bubbly personality that screamed magical unicorns with sunshine and rainbows.

Karane noticed almost immediately. Her cheerful face dropped. She held up a clenched fist. "What?!" She snapped. "Get back to work or I'm putting you all in time out!"

And there it was, the true Karane leaking back. Everyone immediately turned back to their duty stations. Karane offered out a hand to Cid. "May I help you up? My fine lady?" She asked as if suddenly roleplaying a kind and polite butler in some cheesy Earth Victorian television sappy romance drama.

Cid snickered and took the hand, stepping up onto the step at the console. "Why thank you my lady...um...girl." She wasn't sure how the wording worked, but she figured she did well enough. "You're way more fun as a kid," she said, grinning as she moved to one side of the step so Karane could join her and held out a hand. "Your turn Ma'am Lady."

Karana crouched and wuth the tiniest smallest jump, she hopped up onto the makeshift step. She immediately lost her balance. "Woah!!" She called out as she waved her arms in circles as she stumbled back. However she managed to regain her balance on the step. "Safe!"

A moment later, David returned with a tray full of small containers and metal straws, as well as a pile of cookies as a bonus. He knew enough about his nieces to know what a bribe of sweets could accomplish. The Mess Hall had been a room full of panicked tweens, but he'd quelled it relatively quickly as he told everyone to get to their stations or their quarters and sit tight. The kitchen staff was worried about burning themselves trying to cook at their height, so the ones too short to work safely had left, and the others were too busy to worry about him taking some supplies. He saw Karane and Cid giggling at the main console and raised an eyebrow. "So...you used to be cheerful," he said as he approached, bowing slightly. "Your milk, Lieutenant."

"Thanks," Karane said as she took the cup, whilst focusing on the console. She held it in one hand, sipping with the straw that was now in the corner of her mouth. "I'm always cheewful..." she mumbled as she stood directly next to Cid. The two girls were shoulder to shoulder, literally working their respective side of the console. It was a strange sight, considering that the console was usually only ever manned by a single person.

However, the makeshift step wasn't perfect. It jolted slightly, causing Karane to stumble again. This time, she didn't save her balance. Down she went, milk in hand and landed with a thumb on the floor right on her backside. The milk went flying with her, resulting in poor Karane being showered in it.

The klang of the cup echoed around Engineering as it fell deathly silent. It was now so silent a pin being dropped could be heard. Everyone was watching, the Chief Engineer didn't often fall over or off things. So, what was going to happen? Would she explode in anger? Would she laugh? Would she blame Cid?

Nope.

Karane sat there stunned on the deck. Then it came. A sniffle. It was followed by another and another as her eyes returned to glisten. Then something came out of Karane that no one was expecting.

"Waaaah!" She wailed out. It was at that moment that the entire crew of the engine room suddenly realised. The child aged Karane Inda, was nothing but a big spoilt crybaby.

David stared in shock for a moment, then looked around. "Focus on your work!" he shouted, his cheeks flushing red with anger and second-hand embarrassment. He put the tray down on the floor and quickly scooped up Karane and took her to her office, sitting her down on her desk and looking her over. "Hey," he said, shaking her shoulder a bit. "Karane! C'mon snap out of it!" he said, giving her another shake. "You're okay, it was just your butt. Don't go to pieces over it, jeez!"

Karane's crying had now turned to sniffles and quiet sobs. She looked at him, tears still running down her cheeks, accompanied by a rather snotty runny nose. She didn't say anything, just held both arms out towards him.

Just like Lilly, David thought. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and cleaned her up, then pulled her in and hugged her. "It's gonna be fine," he said. "Just...I dunno, work and hang on. We're still us, right? We can do this."

Karane gripped him tightly, her little hands firmly grasping his uniform. But after a few moments they relaxed, and whilst still being embraced the sniffles turned to a series of cure snoozes. She had literally tired herself out.

David looked at her and shook his head. Exactly like Lilly, he thought, amused. He picked her up and gently put her on the floor behind her desk, safely out of sight so she could rest. He stepped out of the office and looked at the gaggle of engineers, now all stopping for a milk and cookie break. Cid sat with one in each hand, munching happily. He smirked at the sight, then frowned. That wasn't right and it was bothering him and he didn't know why and he didn't know why the fact that he didn't know why was bothering him but he just knew he was bothered and--

His hand had gone for his communicator before he even realized what he'd done. "Erickson to bridge," he said. "We have a problem. This isn't just a physical transformation."

Lt. Cmdr. David Erickson
The Cool Older Guy

Lt. Karane Inda
The Kid Napper

PO3 Chloe Delacroix
The Cookie Monster

 

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