Chakotay ran his finger under the turtle neck of his new Starfleet uniform as he made his way to the bridge. He nodded at the Starfleet crew members who eyed him as he passed in the halls and smiled at the Maquis who also seemed to be chafing a bit under their new clothing.

As he marched onto the bridge, he noticed the Captain's chair was empty. Tuvok gave him a quick acknowledgement to relinquish control of the bridge to him and Chakotay quickly settled himself into his first officer's chair.

"The Captain is in her ready room," Tuvok said.

"Does she need to see me?" Chakotay said.

"Not that I am aware of, Commander. "

Chakotay shook off a wave of displeasure and busied himself with a padd. There were no Maquis assigned to the bridge and he pretended not to notice the occasional furtive glance that came his way. He noticed Mr. Paris at the helm and said, "Brush up on your Starfleet security skills, Mr. Paris?"

Tom spun around. "Sir?"

"You're my bodyguard on this ship, right?"

Tuvok stiffened. "I can assure you that all security measures are in place and highly effective for all personnel."

Chakotay grinned at Tom and then glanced back down at the padd in his hand. "Yes, I can see that in your reports, Mr. Tuvok." He watched Tom turn back to his post and then stood up to face Tuvok. "Care to tell me what's not in them?"

"Sir?"

"You can drop the confused look, Lieutenant. Deception is not a Vulcan strong suit despite recent events." He shook the padd and said, "No contingency plans for a mutiny? You must be slipping. Either you think I'm a fool or you're derelict in your duties, Mr. Tuvok. Which is it?"

"I can assure you my duties are efficiently performed, Commander. Though, you may take up any performance issues with the Captain as is your prerogative to do so. To answer your question, it would be both highly foolish and a derelict of my duty to place such contingency plans in a report intended to be read by the person most likely to lead such a rebellion."

"Is there a problem here, Commander?" Captain Janeway stood just outside of her ready room, arms folded across her chest. "Do we need to discuss something?"

Chakotay gave Tuvok a look before walking over to her. He crowded her as he peered down. "Yes, let's." He loomed over her for another second before slipping past and into the room.

Janeway's eyes flashed at Tuvok but she slightly shook her head. She watched him open a secure monitoring channel to his post before she nodded and turned to join Chakotay inside. As the doors closed behind her, she saw he had made himself comfortable in a chair calmly perusing his padd as he waited. Marching over, she leaned down and placed one hand on each side of the chair. Firmly planting her face in his, she said, "Let's get something very clear here, Commander. One of the first things I said to you when you took this job was that I would not tolerate disrespect towards me or any member of this crew. What you did out there was unacceptable and it will...not...be tolerated."

Chakotay smiled. "Does this mean you're going to throw me in the brig now? I actually would like to see you personally escort me there yourself."

"Keep this attitude up and you'll get your wish." She straightened up and stepped back to lean against her desk. "Now, you want to drop this cavalier attitude and tell me what your real problem is?"

"You seem to have all the answers, Captain. Why don't you tell me?"

Janeway snatched the padd out of his hand and tossed it onto the floor. "We've passed several M Class planets. Unless you want to pick one as your new home…"

Chakotay's faced darkened. "You're putting me off this ship?"

Janeway leaned toward him again. "I thought I made that very clear in our initial discussion, Commander. If you can't be bothered to be here in a productive way, then for the safety and security of this crew, yes. I will put you and anyone else off who can't handle this transition."

Chakotay smirked. "Are you getting all of this Mr. Tuvok? I expect to see it in your next report. That is unless you intend to restrict that information from me too, Captain."

Janeway took a deep breath. "Tuvok, close your security channel."

Tuvok's voice came across the comm. "Captain, I would not advise…"

"Do it!" The blip of the channel closing sounded and silence stretched between them.

She broke their eye contact and walked back around her desk to sit down. "Now, Commander, what's on your mind?"

"Are you sure you really want to know?"

Janeway shrugged. "I wouldn't ask if I didn't expect an answer."

"You asked me to be your First Officer."

She nodded. "I did."

"Then let me be one."

"I beg your pardon."

"You should."

Janeway's brow arched. "Excuse me?"

"I've been a First Officer before. I know the role. What you have me doing…Neelix or Kes can be trained to do. Either give me what you promised or…"

"Or….what?"

Chakotay's eyes narrowed. "That initial discussion you spoke of ended with a handshake and a promise of trust; you and I, working together, and setting an example for this crew. Instead, I've been positioned as your personal show dog. Tuvok has more authority than I do around here and I don't think I'm the only one that realizes that! I will not be made a fool out of!"

Janeway didn't flinch. Instead she sat and considered his words. "I apologize. I didn't realize you felt that's what we've been doing. It certainly wasn't my intention…"

"Like hell it wasn't!"

She leaned across her desk. "What do you want from me? You want me to hand Voyager over to you, give you full control while you continue to make threats not only against me but against this crew. How do you expect me to give you autonomy when you're my biggest security threat?" She pointed to the window. "Threats should be coming from outside my ship, not from within! You think you have problems, Commander? Mine are bigger and most of them can be traced to you!"

Chakotay pointed at her. "That's it, right there! My ship, my security threat, my problems. I'm your First Officer, damn it! It should be our ship, our security, and our problems! But I can't even begin to get there and involve myself to help you because you won't give me the information I need to do my job. Let me do it, Captain! I was damn good at it once and I can be just as good again! You are the problem here. Not me!"

"Am I?"

"Yes! You give me a job to do but then parcel out the main responsibilities of it to Tuvok and Carey. If you want Tuvok as your First Officer, appoint him. Now! But if you want me, then let me do it. All of it! Do you realize I have the means to self destruct this ship but absolutely no authority to make sure we don't get into a situation that might put us there?"

Janeway shook her head. "That's not true."

"Isn't it?" Chakotay walked over and leaned down to retrieve the padd. He tossed it on her desk where it clattered in front of her. "Read that. Go ahead. Read it. I could get more tactical information and a sense of current ship functions from eating breakfast in the mess hall."

Janeway picked up the padd and motioned at the chair. "Sit down, Commander." She watched him slowly make his way back to his seat. "You're right. I said we would start off in a partnership of trust and I haven't given very much of that to you."

"Any."

Janeway put up a finger. "What would you have me do if you were in my position? I have someone itching to take control of the ship, the only means home for our crew. He pleads to be trusted while, at the same time, issuing mutinous threats that undermine any perception of the responsibility that he is begging for."

"I didn't beg for it. You offered it."

"I did offer it. But you took it with the understanding that you need to respect what we're trying to accomplish here."

"And just how many hoops do I need to jump through before I'm deemed worthy of your respect?"

"As many as I deem necessary. And you'll put a smile on your face while you do it."

Chakotay's eyes swept over her. "There are lots of things that can put a smile on my face, Captain. Having someone show respect towards me is one of them." Chakotay leaned onto her desk. "You talk about my bad behavior. Let's talk about yours. You are the Captain, after all. You do lead by example, don't you? Maybe you need a mirror to take notes about what bad behavior is."

"Maybe. I'll ask again. What exactly do you want from me, Commander?" She put a hand up as he opened his mouth. "No wisecracks. A true and specific example of what I can do to engender trust between us and move this relationship forward. What will get us back on track here?"

Chakotay leaned back. "Have you seen my recommendations for the Maquis crew members capable of leadership roles aboard Voyager?"

"Yes. You have some rather…interesting…choices."

"Belanna Torres."

Janeway turned to her computer screen. "Yes, she was the most interesting."

"She's the best engineer I know, period. In or out of Starfleet."

"You can't be serious." She caught the flash of anger cross his face before she turned back to the screen. "I'll consider it."

Chakotay rubbed his palms across his legs and shook his head. "No, you won't. I size people up pretty well fairly quickly, a necessary occupational skill of the Maquis. That respect thing is tripping you up again, Captain. If you won't consider her or want to say no, just say it!"

Janeway jumped up. "In case you missed it out there a few days ago, I meant what I said to the Kazon. I do not tolerate bullies out there and I damn sure will not be bullied on my own ship!"

Chakotay matched her and said, "And I won't be a token Maquis officer that you can trot out to the crew every once in a while to show that you 'engender trust and teamwork' on your voyage home. I've got better plans for my next 75 years so if that's your plan, where are those M class planet schematics? I'd like to see one."

Janeway's shoulders sagged a little. "Is that what you think, Chakotay? You really believe I think you have no merit or value to this crew?"

He noted the address of his name instead of his title and took a moment. "You're not allowing me to show you any. What am I supposed to think? Or have you not been listening to me?"

"Oh I've been listening. Maybe not hearing everything but I've been listening." She sighed before saying, "I don't think of you as a token officer."

"Then use me. I am trying to help you here but you keep fighting me. Belanna Torres is the right choice for Chief Engineer. If anyone can get us home faster, she can. Have Carey watch her for as long as you need to. He'll be as impressed with her as you will."

Janeway's eyes darted with his. Finally, she nodded. "Okay. I guess if you're going to make a move I may as well give you the means to do it already and end this once and for all. You can tell Belanna she's been promoted to Chief Engineer on a probationary basis. That means, like any position on this ship, it's subject to performance and conduct. Supervisory skills and interpersonal communication are part of the job. She controls her temper and acts appropriately and, maybe, just maybe, she'll be a valuable asset to this crew."

Chakotay moved closer. "Is that last comment also directed at me?"

Janeway held his gaze. "You've been an exemplary First Officer in the past by your own words here today, Commander. Show me that now and we can move on. Finally. Together. Dismissed."