(no subject)

[pook41]

Title: Filling in the Blanks
Author: Pook
Fandom: Star Trek: Voyager
Rating: PG13
Summary: Chakotay gets to know more about Kathryn and her Starfleet record
Character/Pairing: Janeway/Chakotay
Spoilers: None
Warnings: None
Author’s Notes: This is part 2 of my loose 'getting to know you' series and follows a few hours after 'From the start'
Prompt Number for fic101:  list 2 - 87 – Dinner
Disclaimer: CBS/Paramount owns everything. No infringement intended.
Date: 21/2/07

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~*~~

The USS Voyager was limping along at warp three after surviving its first battle in the Delta Quadrant.

 

In the XO’s office, a still somewhat dazed Chakotay sat behind his desk and stared out the window. He felt the whole situation was still too surreal for him to take it all in. He’d just accepted the position as First Officer and his Maquis had done what they do best when he’d explained the situation. For a minute or two, the majority had whinged and whined, some had threatened blue murder; others had punched walls out of frustration. All had blustered about the injustice of it all. Their frustration wasn’t something new, he’d felt it too. But then, like him, the Maquis quickly adapted to their new situation, followed the lieutenants for the tour of the ship and got on with the job. He was very proud of how well they’d taken it all. Although, both his crew and the captain’s were still in shock and were acting most likely on autopilot. When the numbness of the shock wore off and they realized how far away they are from their homes and loved ones, and all the deaths they’d had, he hoped they could still work together.

 

The captain had asked him to find places for his crew but first he had to find out what sort of officer Captain Janeway was. She seemed honourable but he knew nothing about her career. He was easily able to access the majority of her record. There were three areas blocked to him using encryption algorithms that were beyond his skill. It wasn’t unusual to have classified sections in a record. He himself had several such entries. What was unusual was the level of encryption. He would have to ask B’Elanna to help him but right now, there wasn’t the time nor did he have the inclination to do so. Chakotay knew he could trust Janeway with his life; he still needed to know for the sake of his crew even it meant betraying that trust. 

 

Personal details were first - nothing out of the ordinary there except her father had been an admiral and had died on duty in a shuttle crash but all the details were classified. All her qualifications, weapons and equipment ratings, courses and medals were all neatly tabled. The first surprise was that the captain was a class five-rated engineer. She could be the chief engineer of most vessels in the fleet including Voyager and the reason why she was now down in Engineering helping repair the ship.

 

Starfleet were nothing but thorough. He skipped her Academy entrance examination and testing results. Chakotay had been again surprised to learn that as a cadet, she’d been in the blue of Sciences and not the red of Command, as he would expect for a future captain. It was unusual for members of one corps of Starfleet to switch to another, especially to Command and then to actually succeed. Her academic and military record showed her obvious potential for both corps.

 

The only minor negative point had been noted by an Academy counsellor was her lack of participation in the social aspects of Academy life. But it wasn’t a surprise to him that she hadn’t been a party girl. To get the marks she had she must’ve studied every minute of the day, leaving no time to socialize. She may have also been trying to please her admiral father.

 

The captain had graduated with a doctorate in cosmology. It impressed him that she’d finished seventh in her overall class, not just the Science track to beat almost all of those Kirk wannabees.

 

Most of her work as an ensign was classified, which wasn’t a surprise. The thing that was unusual was the three-month unattached period she’d had after completing her tour on the [i]Al-Batani[/i]. Starfleet liked to keep their ensigns extremely busy to see which ones sink or swim. Ensigns were posted to ships, starbases or as lackeys for admirals, not lounging around doing nothing.

 

Then, at the end of her tenure at the Cosmology department at the Academy, the then Lieutenant Janeway had an extended period of medical leave after a bad shuttle crash. There was a component of bereavement leave attached to this period. Strange, he thought, Starfleet only gave bereavement leave if a member of your immediate family had died. He checked the date. 2358. Thirteen years ago. The same year her father had died in a shuttle crash. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Perhaps, they had been on the same shuttle that had crashed and she’d survived it but her father hadn’t. No details were given of the crash or her injuries as it was classified.

 

He continued.

 

After she’d recovered, she’d switched to Command and completed Command school, once again near the top of her class. As a newly qualified command platoon leader, she’d been thrown straight into the 59-62 Cardassian border war for nearly three years. He shuddered. Some of the bloodiest ground battles that Starfleet had ever fought in had taken place along the DMZ in those three years - high casualties, vicious ‘hand to hand’ fighting, and mistreatment of POWs. She’d earned three of her five bravery medals during those years.

 

He’d been lucky to miss that war because he’d been on a three-year deep space mission in the Beta Quadrant.

 

In a funny way, it was good that she’d seen her share close combat and the wrong end of a disrupter. It meant that she wasn’t a desk bound officer who was promoted shuffling papers or in her case relying on her father’s name. It meant she must be tough both mentally and physically to have survived those years and was exactly what they needed out here.

 

The rest of her service record was pretty much as he’d thought, with her spending the majority of her time as a Second Officer then as First Officer on the deep space ship, USS [i]Billings. [/i]

 

Chakotay shook his head; their CO was a scientist, engineer, soldier, and an experienced deep space officer.

 

It almost seemed too good to be true.

 

So far, nothing about her professional history that was troubling. She seemed driven to succeed just like the majority of Starfleet officers - nothing new there. No death wishes but a willingness to put her life on the line when necessary. She wasn’t authoritarian in her command style, delegating and allowing her subordinates input into the decisions she’d made.

 

In Command school, his weaknesses had been pointed out to him in no uncertain terms and he was in no doubt that hers would’ve been too. They’d both had to have overcome them otherwise they wouldn’t have graduated from Command school or been further promoted. It was all part of the procedure to make them a better command officer.

 

What type of person she was behind the captain’s mask would be far more difficult to ascertain. Captains rarely let any one get close and if she did, it would be on her terms. It was part of the mystique of command. They stood apart from the crew to be able make the tough decisions with personal detachment. That wasn’t to say they didn’t have people to turn to or to advise them. Most captains had one or two very close friends. During his time, the example at Command School had been Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Those famous officers had forged a working relationship and firm friendship over a long time serving together, with very little back up in a situation very similar to what Voyager faced in the Delta Quadrant. Tuvok had known Janeway a long time and she’d talked to Tuvok about what to do about the Maquis, agreeing with his analysis. She seemed to trust his judgement and he hoped that as they worked together she would trust his as well.

 

Chakotay closed down her record. Only time would tell how they’d both would react to events in the Delta Quadrant. They would need some time to learn each other’s styles but so far, they’d worked well together. Getting on with the task of assigning duty stations, Chakotay accessed the padd that the captain had given him and began to work on placing the crew.

 

~~*~~

 

“Shit!” Kathryn muttered under her breath, wincing as she took off skin from yet another knuckle. It didn’t stop her as she pulled out the burnt out relay circuit from its housing. Blood was already seeping through, mixing in with the dirt and the sweat. Losing some skin and spilling some blood was part and parcel of fixing conduit relays. She’d already lost skin on two other knuckles and would likely lose more as she had another two more relays to repair before Voyager would be able to go to maximum warp.

 

Engineering had been hit hard when the Caretaker brought them to the Delta Quadrant. A third of the department had been killed, leaving them with no Chief Engineer and only one experienced lieutenant. Leaving the Bridge in Tuvok’s capable hands, Kathryn was using her engineering skills for a couple of hours while it was relatively quiet. Mr Carey and Ms Torres were fixing the reaction chamber while the less experienced engineers were repairing the less critical equipment. 

 

Adjusting the hyper spanner scale, her stomach growled. She was hungry but wouldn’t have time for dinner just yet. As soon as she thought of food, she remembered her meeting with Chakotay and tapped her combadge. “Computer, what’s the time?”

 

[i]“The time is 1920 hours.” [/i]

 

“Damn!” She was going to miss her dinner meeting with Chakotay. It would take another two hours to finish the job. She tapped her combadge again.

 

[i]“Janeway to Chakotay.”[/i]

 

[i]“Chakotay here, Captain.”[/i] Chakotay had spent the afternoon going through the personnel situation, finding places for his crew and hers then reading the damage reports, and familiarizing himself with the ship.

 

“Chakotay, I’ll have to miss our meeting. The repairs will take another two hours.”

 

[i]“Yes, Captain. Perhaps another time?”[/i] Chakotay was a little disappointed but understood.

 

“Definitely.”  Kathryn had wanted to have dinner with him as a way of getting to know one another but mostly for him to get to know her. Back in San Francisco, she’d been thoroughly briefed and had read his personal and intelligence files. She knew his professional record back to front and using what Tuvok had told her and her own judgement, she had a good idea what type of man he was.

 

“Chakotay, have you read my Starfleet record yet?” Kathryn smirked. It would’ve been the first thing she’d have done if she was in his position. A first year cadet could get past the initial security to read any personnel file and it was almost expected of senior officers to read each other’s records when they first came to a new command. There was nothing wrong about knowing your enemy.

 

Tugging on his ear, Chakotay coughed, knowing he’d just been caught out. [i]“Hmmm ... Yes, Captain.”[/i]

 

Sensing his embarrassment, Kathryn tried to put him at ease. “Don’t worry, Mr Chakotay. I expected you to. It’s what I would’ve done.” Kathryn laughed, “Although, it’s pretty dry reading.”

 

[i]“It couldn’t be as boring as my file.”[/i] Chakotay relaxed.

 

“Don’t be modest, Commander. I know you’ve seen a bit of excitement.” Kathryn teased then moved on to a full-blown grin, barely hiding her amusement at the derogatory nickname for Advanced Tactical unit officers. “You chicken strangler.”

 

For the first time in a while, Chakotay laughed aloud, followed soon after by Kathryn. It felt good to laugh even if it was at his expense. He hadn’t been called that for so long. When he was in ATU he would’ve taken offence, but now he was older and wiser. Archaic nicknames for infantry and Special Forces like ‘bullet catcher’ and ‘chicken strangler’ were still bandied about as a part of the [i]esprit de corps[i] of units.

 

[i]“I suppose.”[/i] Chakotay was still smiling. [i]“When you need another laugh, remind me to tell you all about my ‘pattern buffer accident’.”[/i]

 

“I think I will.” Kathryn didn’t have to imagine what he meant as almost everyone who’d been in Starfleet had had a similar transporter malfunction. These ‘accidents’ occurred with alarming frequency. It was amazing that COE could never get to the bottom of how they happened. “Come to my Ready Room at 0645 tomorrow and we’ll have a breakfast meeting to sort out the duty stations.”

 

[i]“Yes, Captain.”[/i]

 

“Janeway out.”

 

Not wishing to face the crowd in the Messhall, Chakotay decided to start a provisional duty roster first then have dinner.

 

~~*~~

 

Two hours later, Chakotay completed the roster and downloaded it and his duty station recommendations into two padds. After shutting down the computer, he tidied up his desk then left for the Mess hall to get some late dinner. 

 

Walking into the Mess hall, he couldn’t help but notice the eyes of the Starfleet crew who were watching him closely. They were sizing him up just as he was. He was grateful that they were disciplined enough not to show any disdain. Hoping to put them at ease, he nodded politely to them as he passed. Just as he hoped to learn their names and more about them, he also wished that the wedding-type seating arrangements might change. Former Maquis using the left hand side while the Starfleet crew used the right.

 

Collecting his ration pack and bottle of water, Chakotay choose to sit alone in the imaginary but he hoped soon to be diminishing chasm between the two groups. He didn’t want to add to the ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality by sitting with his former shipmates.

 

After finishing his meal, Chakotay headed for his quarters and was about to enter the lift when Captain Janeway strolled out. They just avoided colliding by sidestepping each other.

 

“My apologies, Captain.” Chakotay stepped back, apologetically.

 

“No harm done.” Kathryn smiled. In the back of her mind, she wondered when their relationship would become less formal. “Have you had dinner?”

 

“Yes, Captain.”

 

She decided to put off having her dinner, thinking it might be a good time for a quick tour of the ship. “Let me give you a tour of the ship.”

 

“I’d like that, Captain.”

 

After the turbolift doors closed behind them, she ordered the lift to deck 15. “Have you read my record?”

 

Chakotay nodded.

 

“Is there anything else you’d would like to know?”

 

“Not really. It’s very impressive.” Chakotay watched as she blushed with embarrassment.

 

Kathryn chose not to reply. It wasn’t her intention for him to be impressed by her but for the information to show him what kind of officer she’d been. She knew she’d have to earn the respect of the Maquis and the new members of her Starfleet crew by her actions and deeds now and in the future and not by what she’d done in the past.

 

As they walked around each deck, Janeway pointed out key systems and areas and introduced him to the crew on duty. Along the way, they talked about their childhoods, schools and swapped the normal array of anecdotes that every officer has at their disposal for any type of function, from staid diplomatic receptions to raucous pub crawls. Continuing to swap stories, they began to relax as their initial awkwardness faded.

 

Their tour of the ship finished as they exited at deck three. Officer’s quarters.

 

Kathryn had finished a story about Phoebe and felt compelled to ask about his only remaining sister. The most up to date intelligence report on his sister had been six months old. “Have you heard from your sister?”

 

“I heard from Sekaya a week before we came here.”

 

“You’ll see her again, Chakotay,” she said quietly. It might have sounded trite but she said it any way. Did she do it to reassure her or him? More likely, both.

 

“I hope so. You’ll see your family, too.”

 

She stopped outside his quarters. It still had Scott Cavit’s name on the door. “I’ll see that’s changed tomorrow, Mr Chakotay.”

 

“Thank you, Captain.”

 

“I’ll see you at 0645 tomorrow then. Good night, Mr Chakotay.”

 

“Good night, Captain.” Chakotay walked through the door. Earlier in the day, he’d come here to change into his uniform, just as two ensigns were finishing packing up Commander Cavit’s personal effects. A depressing business that he’d had plenty of experience with as a junior officer cleaning up after Wolf 359. He was respectful and had waited outside until the ensigns had left.

 

He looked around at the bare room that would be his room for the next seventy years; he rubbed his face exhausted, physically and mentally. His day had been tiring but ultimately rewarding. The Maquis had more or less accepted the situation. The usual hotheads would need careful monitoring but he was confident they were smart enough to see joining forces had been the only real solution. The Starfleet crew that he’d met so far seemed to respect him. It would take time for them to merge into one crew.

 

Chakotay glanced at the table where his medicine bundle was laying. It was all that B’Elanna had salvaged from the Liberty but it was very important to him. He made a mental note to thank B’Elanna when he saw her next. All he had was the Maquis clothes he’d worn when he’d beamed over from his ship and one spare uniform. It could’ve been worse though. He could’ve died so he thanked the Spirits that most of his people survived. It didn’t feel strange to him that he was also grateful that the captain’s losses weren’t worse.

 

Tired, Chakotay undressed and slipped in between the sheets. The enormity of their situation didn’t bear thinking about just yet. He just needed to survive this day and then he would think about tomorrow when tomorrow came. If time permitted tomorrow, he would seek answers from his Spirit guide about everything that had happened. Happy for the most part over the events of the day and content for the first time in ages, he drifted off to sleep.

 

~~*~~