Replicator Wars the Next Generation

Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters.

"Dad what are you doing?" 12 year old Eliza yelled as she stepped out of their house into the back yard. The summer sun was shining bright but living outside of San Francisco meant the weather could change rather quickly.

She had been told her parents were originally going to get a house in Indiana, at her mother's request. But in the end they decided it was better to live closer to Starfleet HQ where they both worked and taught classes at the academy. Additionally, her father declared he was getting too old to be shoveling snow. Eliza loved living where they did even if living in Indiana would have meant being near her grandmother and Aunt Phoebe.

That afternoon her father was outside working with wood. She knew how much he enjoyed making things out of wood. He had apparently carved the cradle she slept in as an infant, unfortunately she had no memory of it. But she had seen holo pictures and it did look intricate and pretty. Over the years she had seen him carve and create all types of things out of wood. Yet she had never seen him with such a large piece of wood. It was flat and propped up on two sawhorses making it look like a table.

"I'm making a new headboard for your Mom and I, for our bed" He answered, not looking up for his work.

"What's wrong with the old one?" She asked walking closer to inspect his work. He was intricately carving flowers, leaves and a monkey into the wood. This was a weird choice to her but her parents could be weird so she decided not to mention it.

"Nothing is wrong with the old one" he replied, blowing away the excess wood shavings from his carving.

"Then why are you making a new one?" She pushed him, still confused.

"It's an anniversary present for your Mom."

"Then you must be in big trouble because your anniversary was two months ago." She remembered it clearly because they had left her in Indiana while they went off for a long weekend in Paris.

"This is for a different anniversary" he countered.

"When you got engaged?" she guessed.

"Nope" he replied as he continued to smooth the edges around the monkey's face.

"Well it can't be for when Voyager got home that's long past or five months away, however you want to look at it." She said thinking aloud. "When you two first met?" She tried again.

"Nope."

"Fine, have your adult secrets" she declared giving up, deciding she didn't want to know. "I have bigger problems right now." She informed him dramatically, returning to the reason she had come out of the house in the first place.

"What's wrong?" Her father asked, setting his tools down and looking up at her for the first time.

"Mom has taken the replicator apart again." She huffed at him.

"Ah…well I guess that refreshing afternoon beer is out of the question." He grumbled, wiping sweat off his forehead.

"I don't understand, Mom can do anything, everything, except fix a replicator. Why does she keep taking it apart?" She demanded putting her hand on her hips.

"Your Mom is engaged in an inter galactic conflict with her replicators. It apparently all started when she called one a glorified toaster." He explained a smile playing at his lips.

"Mom is one of Starfleet's top diplomats and negotiators. Shouldn't she have been able to facilitate a cessation of hostilities by now?" Eliza argued. She knew first hand how good her Mom was at diplomacy, the three of them had been all over the quadrant trying to help peace take hold in divided areas.

"All attempts at negotiations have so far failed." Her dad informed her with a frown.

"Have you tried to step in and medate?" She pushed him.

"All of my attempts to end the conflict have so far failed as well. Certain parties do not take kindly to my suggestions on this subject." He countered with a sigh, his browl knitting slightly.

"Then what are we going to do?" She cried questioning him, this was their food they were talking about after all.

"I guess I will see if your Aunt B'Elanna and Uncle Tom can come over tomorrow." He answered thinking it over for a moment first.

"What are we going to do till then?" Eliza moaned, he was not taking this seriously enough for her liking.

"We have some food in the house" he reminded her.

"We can't have toast for dinner" she complained, pouting slightly hoping it would help.

"I suppose you're right" he conceded, frowning once more.

"So burnt roast for dinner then." She concluded with a groan. That was what always happened when her mother fought with the replicator. They were forced to endure burnt food till her Aunt B'Elanna could come over and fix it.

"No, I think we are going out for dinner. How does Italian sound?" He replied a grin spreading across his face.

"Sounds much better than burnt roast." She cried happily bouncing on her toes at this new development.

"You want to tell Mom?" He suggested but she wasn't going to fall for that trick again. Her Mom would not initially be happy with their decision. She was never in a good mood after her confrontations with the replicator.

"I'll leave that to you. I have some urgent reading to do." She declared turning back towards the house.

"What could be so urgent you are on summer break?" He asked with a confused laugh.

"I think it's time I learned how to fix a replicator. I feel my continued survival in this house depends on it. I just need to make sure I don't use the same reference material Mom used." She informed him, confident this was the best way to spend the rest of her afternoon.

"Why?" Her father asked her, still confused.

"Clearly the one she used is full of errors." She heard him laugh once more and a glance over her shoulder showed he had gone back to his work shaking his head. But it was the only explanation Eliza could come up with to explain why her Mom, the great Admiral Janeway couldn't fix a replicator.

a/n I wanted to post something that was really just for fun because who doesn't need something fun right now. The anniversary referenced is the time Kathryn and Chakotay spent on New Earth, I felt now that they were married this time would mean a lot to them. Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. I would love to know what you thought!