Disclaimer: Voyager belongs to Paramount…we already knew that…right?
Who Have The Captains Got?
By Manda (Mizuno Ami)
"….I've got the luxury of having a Captain and a first officer to support me. Who've the captains got?"
Chakotay slumped back and slugged the last of his coffee, now cold and bitter.
"Just us," he said.
- Harry Kim and Chakotay, "Equinox", the novel.
~~~~~~~~~
The replicator hummed as it released a mug of steaming java into Kathryn Janeway's waiting hands. She gave it a brief smile, inhaling the vapors before turning on her heel and approaching the ready room couch.
"They call him by his first name, you know." She commented to the man who watched her, his demeanor relaxed in comparison to her tensed shoulders and stiffened spine. She'd tried the relaxation techniques the Doctor had suggested, but somehow, nothing could work out the kinks that so persistantly wracked her shoulders. A nice holographic massage, maybe, when this was all over, by some masseuse in far off Paris, France…why was it that, as she thought it, home seemed just so damned far?
"And I call you by yours," Chakotay responded, leaning backwards and glancing out toward the sparkling backdrop, where the Equinox was easily visable, it's battered hull a silent testimony to the wellness of Voyager…and just how much better they had fared, thus far. "His ship's been through a great deal, Kathryn."
"So have we," She retorted, sitting, yet not allowing her body to relax. It couldn't. "Although I'm not refuting that the Equinox hasn't been to hell in a handbasket, Chakotay…I can't help but wonder how it is that Ransom's crew can work with that measure of personal…banter…and work so well. His structure may not be strictly by-the-book any longer, but somehow I imagine it works better for him…and I wonder if we couldn't have used those same tactics somewhere along the way."
"They worked better for him," Chakotay's eyes twinkled as he threw the words back at her, although as he leaned forward, his expression remained neutral. "That's the key phrase, Kathryn. For him. What you have here is a crew that's loyal, regardless of the 'personal banter' or lack thereof. Do you really believe that our crew would follow you farther than they already have, if suddenly given the option of everyday dinners, chats, calling you by your first name…We're not missing anything by adhering to Starfleet Protocols. Except," he added, with a soft grin, "the occasional Maquis trick."
"And somehow, B'Elanna always manages to sneak one in." Janeway took a sip of her coffee, cooling, it seemed, all too rapidly. She wasn't particularly insecure about where the loyalties of her crew happened to lie- on the contrary, she felt surprisingly…settled with the behavior of her crew. They weren't any less empathetic to her needs, nor she to theirs, and yet…something about Ransom's crew made her stomach clench. There wasn't…there was something unsettling about it all, and she was determined to eventually learn what.
Chakotay caught her gaze as she moved to order up another mug of coffee- today would be, it seemed a two-cup kind of day- and the look on his face stopped her mid-rise.
"Kathryn…you aren't worried about the crew's loyalty, are you?"
She shook her head, strangely amused by the depth of his concern. If ever doubting loyalty…to look into the eyes of her first officer was to tell her there was never any chance that her crew would ever turn against her. Not if there was a man like Chakotay by her side. Even Rudy Ransom, with Maxwell Burke on his team, couldn't possibly be as lucky. But, perhaps luck had nothing to do with it. She'd wanted to stop relying on fate, luck and good fortune long ago, with circumstances proceeding as they were- it was increasingly difficult to deny their standing in her life.
"Not at all. Although I admit, I do envy the relationship Rudy Ransom has forged with his crew- and his first officer. It wouldn't be as bad as it seems for me to hear my own name spoken aloud, once in a while," She added.
"Kathryn- I'll speak your name as much as you want to hear it," Chakotay's smile was kind, nothing different than usual, the reassurance warming his voice, and Kathryn Janeway basked in it. She wasn't fool enough to not see what was directly in front of her.
'Even Jean-Luc Picard, James T. Kirk…Rachel Garrett…none were quite as lucky', she mused.
Once again, perhaps luck had nothing to do with it. There was fate to decide who, out of everyone in the universe, was meant to be her first officer, confidant, best friend, and more…and if Chakotay was who she got- she couldn't have picked better, herself.
"And I'll never complain," She answered, ordering up two mugs of chamomile tea, breathing in the soothing aroma and turning to him, offering one of the steaming mugs and giving him a smooth, confident smile.
"Just as long as you're with me to say it."
~Fin