I wrote this story for VAMB's Secret Summer exchange 2017. My recipent was Ronda Sexton and she requested a 'cheerful P/T and J/C romantic story'. I went for a light, humorous story that is set right after the episode Worst Case Scenario.

Thanks, as always, to KJaneway115!

No copyright infringement intended.

Chakotay sat in the dim-lighted solitude of his quarters, drinking a cup of his favorite tea. He had expected he would need it, needed it to calm down and order his thoughts after the day's events but the opposite was the case. He was surprisingly calm and didn't brood on anything that had happened because he had only one thing in mind. Kathryn's voice.

What about doing a Western?

He smiled and took a sip of his tea. He had no idea why she had suggested that, where she had been thinking about a new holodeck adventure for a while now or if it had been a spontaneous idea, caused by their latest crisis.

The day came back to him and the smile vanished from his face as he sunk back into the cushions.

Everything had begun with a little harmless fun. He had heard rumors of a new holonovel played by many of the crew but when he asked nobody, wanted to tell him what it was about. They were whispering behind his back, though, stealing glances at him and he felt as if everyone knew except him. His curiosity piqued, he viewed the holodeck logs and found the program in question, named Insurrection Alpha. The title made him suspicious and he booked the holodeck to take a look.

He was very surprised when he started the program and stood suddenly face to face with a holographic version of himself who was planning a mutiny. He began to understand why that program was so popular among the crew, it wasn't a random holonovel, it was a novel about them, about a Maquis mutiny.

Chuckling, he ended the program and went off to tell the captain. She would want to know even if it didn't appear too violent or insubordinate and he was sure she would take it as light-hearted as he did.

He found her in her ready room and she was indeed amused when he told her. They both knew he would never run a mutiny and she was curious who the anonymous author of that unlikely scenario was.

It was Tuvok, to everyone's surprise. No one would have thought that, just like no one had thought that Seska could have manipulated the program and they were about to face another battle with her.

He sighed and rubbed his face. Even from the grave she was still a threat to their crew but luckily Kathryn came up with a plan to rescue crew and ship out of Seska's dangerous grasp.

And still, in that trouble, the day was somewhat positive for him personally as he had realized that Seska had no hold on him anymore. He had felt nothing when he saw her and would have concentrated on finding a way to rescue Tom and Tuvok if Kathryn hadn't relieved him from the rescue mission. He knew her way of thinking but he had learned that Seska was in his past, that he was over her, and that realization gave him a feeling of freedom.

Smiling, he drank the last bit of his tea and stood to recycle the cup. What about doing a Western? he heard Kathryn's unique voice saying again and wondered if she had been serious. It surely would be fun, he thought, and it would make her happy. But could he do it? Could he write a holonovel? If Tom could do it so could he, he thought. And it would be a nice surprise for her.

He imagined her face when he presented it to her and it was all he needed to make a decision. Of course he could do it. He could do anything were Kathryn was concerned.

His smile widening, he took a PADD and started to write.