Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Star Trek Voyager belongs to Paramount and Pocketbooks. I just like borrowing their characters.
A/N: This story is initially set post-Voyager, but no longer follows the events in bookverse from "Before Dishonor" and beyond. I based most of this story's details from "Mosaic" and "Pathways" by Jeri Taylor and Christie Golden's "Seduced" from the "Tales from the Captain's Table" collection. There are some disparities in the details between the two authors regarding Chakotay's background, but I tend to follow Golden's details since hers actually match with canon and makes better sense.
The Admiral's Insigne
Prologue
Captain Chakotay carefully adjusted the fourth pip on his collar for what he thought maybe the last time. He smiled at his own reflection. There were more flecks of gray on his hair than he could count and the lines on his face clearly betrayed his age.
I'm an old man, he thought. But a happy old man.
And why shouldn't he be happy? In few minutes he will be getting a new insigne to replace his pips on that spot. It was his dream ever since he was fifteen and first entered Starfleet.
Vice Admiral.
He never thought he would make it this far. At least not after he resigned his commission and joined the Maquis. And then he got lost for seven years in the Delta Quadrant where the chances of getting home alive, much less get promoted where next to nil. But the spirits blessed him more than he could be thankful for. They got home. He and the rest of the Maquis got full pardons. He was given captaincy of the Voyager. And most of all he gained the love of an exceptional woman.
He was content enough with what he had. But fate was more generous when Kathryn gave him the news of his promotion last week. It would mean leaving Voyager to settle for a cushy desk job and a teaching post at Starfleet Academy. It may not be as exciting as deep space mission exploration but it allowed him to see Kathryn everyday. He happily accepted.
His comm badge chimed and Lyssa Campbell's voice came through: "Bridge to Captain Chakotay. The Admiral is here. She's in your ready room. "
"I'll go meet her there."
"Acknowledged, Captain. We'll be starting in ten minutes."
"We'll be there. Chakotay out."
Chakotay noticed Lyssa emphasized the word "Captain Chakotay." He would miss being called that and he supposed Lyssa will miss it too. But she will just have to start getting used to saying "Captain Kim" after tonight.
He left his quarters and walked to his ready room. The office doors slid open at his approach.
"Ready Kath—" the words died on his mouth as he took in the sight of his office. His padds were littered on the desk and the couch on the far end was upturned. Various pieces of his sparse furniture had been pushed aside carelessly. And in the middle of it all, the Admiral—the obvious culprit of this mess was on her hands and knees searching his floor. It was rather an undignified position for her status, especially when she was all set in her finest dress uniform. Her rear end was just jutting in his direction and he couldn't help but pause to admire it.
"Kathryn, I know this used to be your ready room but I do appreciate it if you tell me before you decide to redecorate."
Her head popped up from the floor. She looked up at him with her hair sticking out in a messy way. "I'm missing my insigne. It must have fallen somewhere here," she said. "Help me look."
"No time. We're starting in ten minutes," he told her. "We're needed on the bridge."
"I'm aware of that," she said irritably. "Or I would have replicated one." She crawled under the table and began searching there. She bumped her head in the process. "Ouch!"
Chakotay immediately went down to check on her.
"Are you alright?"
She held her hand on her head where she bumped it. "I'm fine!" she snapped before her tone softened. "I'm sorry Chakotay. This is your day and I'm messing it. Of all the days for me to be careless…" She rubbed her sore head. Chakotay offered her a hand, pulled her up then helped her to sit on the couch before she could injure herself further.
He knew Kathryn wouldn't dare go out into the bridge for his promotional ceremony with her insigne missing. But searching for it right now in all this mess would be futile. Replicating a new one took too long as insignes and pips were made of a combination of rare alloys that were harder to reproduce. An idea suddenly formed on his head.
"Just sit down Kathryn. I can help."
He went to the door.
"There's no time to replicate one," she complained.
"I'm not going to," he said. "Just sit there and give me two minutes."
He left before she could reply. He went to the turbo lift and instructed it to go down two decks below. He reached his quarters in seconds. He went over to the desk and pulled the bottom drawer. He immediately found what he was looking for: a tiny box. He opened it and took out a single tiny Vice Admiral's insigne. It was old and there was a tiny chip on one of its tiny gold dots. But it wasn't noticeable from afar. It would have to do for Kathryn for the moment.
As he fingered it, flashes of memory of the day he obtained it came to his mind…