Disclaimer: All rights belong to Paramount, I just write for fun.

Setting: Set during 'Caretaker', Season One, Episode One

The crew's first impressions of one another...

Feedback always welcome! (Keeping in mind this is my first Voyager fic...)

Impressions

Janeway

Tom Paris. He's nothing like what I'd expect. Bitter. Confrontational. So unlike his father. And yet, that's only the surface, what he wants people to see. Beneath I sense a very raw need to please, to fit in. I want to believe that this opportunity to help the Federation will go a long way toward re-establishing his confidence, his sense of self.

The Admiral always spoke very highly of his son, always saw great potential. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope for the same.

Tom

I think I've made a friend today.

I could have sworn on DS9 that he was just another kid, completely aglow in Starfleet ideals, too naive to know better than to let a Ferengi bait him. The only person naive enough to give me the time of day, apart from Janeway herself.

But today he showed some serious backbone.

I found him knee deep in the 'Tom Paris Conspiracy' with two senior officers when I went looking for him at lunch. I figured that was the end, right there.

No good deed goes unpunished, and all that.

Boy, was I wrong.

Harry heard them out all right, but when they turned tail and fled at my approach, he stood his ground.

Even more surprising, beneath that self-righteous Federation sense of indignation over one man's mistakes lay someone who could see beyond. Beyond rules, beyond regulations, beyond Starfleet's almighty sense of conformation. Harry Kim could see me.

'I can choose my own friends,' he'd said.

It's been a long time since anyone has stuck up for me like that.

I owe him one.

Chakotay

When I first joined Starfleet, it was my way of becoming part of the twenty-fourth century. When I left, it was to protect my home from the Cardassians. And now, now life's thrown me another curve-ball.

I don't really know how, but by means of some alien array, my ship, my crew, have been launched to the other side of the galaxy, seventy thousand light-years from home.

No Cardassians, thank the spirits, but our only 'ally' is the Federation starship sent out to capture us.

Go figure.

I suppose I should feel grateful that Janeway hasn't arrested us already and thrown us in the brig while the rest of her crew figure out how to get us home, but I don't doubt for a second that if we do find a way back, the good captain won't hesitate to end our unlikely truce and do just that.

She may not be as rigid as other Starfleet captains I've known, but she knows her duty.

It's going to be a fight to win her trust, but out here, at least she's willing to let us try. And try we must. This ship was never built to withstand the punishment she's endured so far, and from what we've seen to date, the Delta Quadrant won't be any kinder.

Harry

I've heard a lot of things about the Maquis. Some good, more bad, and everything in between. But this one, this one seems too much at war with herself to be any use fighting anyone else.

It's her Klingon half, she says, as if it has a mind of it's own, a separate personality.

Well, for all I know, maybe it does. It's not really my place to judge.

Still, she's not at all what I expected. To be so conflicted, so vulnerable...

I'm glad we found her instead of the Cardassians. I think now she might at least stand a chance to survive.

Maybe given enough time, she'll be able to reconcile those two halves and find a little peace.

B'eLanna

Self-righteous control freak, that's what she is! Stranding us here in the Delta Quadrant, without so much as a second thought! Petaq!

I've never been so angry in my life, and that's saying something.

Chakotay says to trust her, give her a chance. I've always valued his opinion, but this...this is a lot to ask.

I trust Chakotay though.

So as much as I dislike Janeway, I'll grudgingly play along. At least as long as Chakotay does the same.

I just hope he knows what he's doing.

Tuvok

Although I appreciate the necessity for combining our two crews, I cannot help but speculate as to the outcome of this decision.

Having previously served under both Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay, I am in the unique position of knowing what each of them are capable of, and to what lengths they will go to protect the interests of their own people.

Should the two crews fail to integrate swiftly and fully, I have no doubt that anarchy will rule from the top, downward.

However, should the Maquis find purchase within our Starfleet crew, I am equally certain that our Captain and Commander will have full command over the crew's loyalty.

Despite their human tendencies, they are each strong and resourceful leaders. I have come to respect them both individually, and have little doubt that together, with the cooperation and combined resources of the two crews, they will lead Voyager home.