A/N Thanks for all of the reviews guys. As a treat I'm going to upload two chapters at once again. Please review both.

Chapter 23

Duty Roster

Tuvok stared at Ben evenly as both men sat down at his desk. They had made a quick detour to Sickbay to make sure Zeroth was gone, before they came to the room. Cracking his knuckles, Ben cleared his throat giving Tuvok the indication that he wanted him to speak.

"Even though you are not the superior officer that I am supposed to divulge this information to, it is only logical for me to tell you the extent of my true involvement with the Maquis." Tuvok started. "I am an undercover operative sent from Starfleet to infiltrate the Maquis."

As he said that Ben's eyes widened slightly before he decided to narrow them. "How can I be sure that you're telling me the truth?" Ben asked, getting to the point. "For all I know this can be some kind of... Maquis trick."

"There is very little logic in that statement, Captain." Tuvok replied, vaguely remembering saying that to Captain Janeway some years before. "As you said yourself, we need each other. However I do see your point." as he said that he took a small chain off of his neck, with a rod at the end of it, that was clear with a light blue tint and handed it to Ben. "That is a Cardassian optolythic data rod. That rod was chosen as a method of data storage because it can only be written on once, cannot be altered and it's hard to destroy. It holds information on my true identity and only myself, Captain Janeway, and Starfleet command have the access codes to use it. I wore it around my neck so in case I was lost in battle, Starfleet would know who I was."

As he explained that, Ben rolled the optolythic rod around in his fingers. Turning his desks computer around, he placed it in a slot on the side of it and allowed Tuvok to type in his personal code. Seeing that a file was being pulled up, Ben saw in black and white that he was telling the truth. He was Lieutenant Tuvok, assigned to USS Voyager, under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway.

"Kira, I need you in my Ready room." Ben said as he slapped at his combadge.

'I'm on my way.' Kira replied, over the comline.

"Mr. Tuvok, for now I'd like for you to stay in the guise of being a member of the Maquis." Ben started as he sat back in his chair. "And when Kira gets here, I want you to give me your complete evaluation of Chakotay and Seska."

"Seska, sir?" Tuvok asked in confusion, as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Seska." Ben replied after a moment of thought. "We have a lot to discuss Tuvok and we have to put a few plans into place."

Mess Hall

Chakotay and the other members of the Maquis walked through the doors into a steam-filled room. Feeling a little better, after finding some quarters and taking a nice sonic shower, Chakotay lightly rubbed his neck. Looking to the right of the room, Chakotay saw a pair of large pans sizzling away on blazing braziers. Surprisingly, Tom Paris was behind the counter. He seasoned the food in the pans, then put some food onto a metal tray and handed it to a crewman across the serving counter.

'From flyboy to cook.' Chakotay thought to himself with a laugh. Looking to a corner, on the side of the room, he saw Seven sitting alone typing into a data Padd. "Hey, B'Elanna find us a table." he told his friend. "I'll be right back."

With a slow stride he walked towards the table and placed a warm smile on his face. "Is this seat taken?" he asked as Seven looked up at him.

"Actually it is." Tom said, from behind him, before she could answer. Turning Chakotay saw Tom with two trays of food in his hands. "Sorry, I'm late, but I had to serve the last crewman before coming over here."

"So you two are..." with a sigh Chakotay just shook his head. He had wanted Seven to move on with her life, but he never thought that she'd move on with Tom. He didn't have anything too negative to say about the other man but from what little he remembered of him, he seemed to be a dog when it came to women. "Never mind."

"Why don't you sit down and join us, Chakotay?" Tom said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, as he moved a chair. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

"Maybe... maybe another time." Chakotay stammered, deflated. "Seven." he said with a curt nod as he turned back around and walked back towards his group.

As Chakotay walked away, Seven watched him for a second before turning her attention to Tom. She studied his expressionless face as he ate his food and wondered why he had tried so hard to push Chakotay away.

"Man, I think I put too much paprika on this." he suddenly spoke, snapping Seven out of her inner musings. Looking up at her Tom smiled as he saw that she was staring at him. "Is the food that bad?"

"I haven't eaten any yet." Seven replied, staring deeply into his eyes.

Seeing that she had a question on her lips, Tom decided to clear the elephant in the room.

"I know what you're probably thinking." Tom started as he put down his fork. "I... I have real feelings for you and... and my whole life people have been taking things from me. I refuse to let that happen again."

"I am not a thing, Tom." Seven reminded him politely.

"Oh... oh I didn't mean."

"I know what you meant." Seven assured as she placed a hand on his. "To be honest I have strong feelings for you as well."

"You look like you're going to say but." Tom said grumpily.

"... but I owe it to myself to have a sense of closure with Chakotay." Seven went on. "I don't know where my feelings for him will lead but I just have to know. I won't take how you... how we feel for each other for granted. You're the one that encouraged me to have my first date with him anyway."

Scrunching his face up in confusion, Tom searched his mind to when such an event occurred. Then it hit him. 'He was the one she was asking me about back at Utopia Planitia?' Tom thought to himself with wide eyes.

"You were correct." Seven said as she took a bite out of her food. "You did put too much paprika in this dish."

'So she has another man?' Seska questioned herself, as she saw the scene unfold in front of her. Still she wondered if Chakotay would like to start a relationship with her now. On second thought, he'd probably just moan about the other woman a little longer. Damn her. "God, what a..."

"Bitch." Valerie and Seska said at the same time. With a smile, Seska turned to the Starfleet officer and got up and sat down at her table and introduced herself. To Seska it was funny, because she just knew that she wasn't going to like anyone on this ship.

Sitting down heavily in his chair, Chakotay watched as the other members of the Maquis stood in line gathering food. Watching him intently, B'Elanna cleared her throat.

"So you and your girlfriend aren't getting back together?" B'Elanna asked as Chakotay looked at her sadly.

"She's not my girlfriend." Chakotay replied with a soft voice. "To be honest with you, she never was. The last time we spoke we were just going to start a relationship but my father was killed and I knew I had to take up his cause. I... I told her to move on with someone else and..." he stopped as he looked up to see Tom and the woman of his affection eating and talking. "I guess she has."

"Hmmm, she's moving fast." B'Elanna replied with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Chakotay asked, crossing his arms over his shoulders.

"Well the way Kira described everything, this entire crew was stuck in an anomoly for almost three years." she started, trying to remember the details of what the first officer had told her. "As soon as the Ares was cleared their first mission was to go to DS9 to stop the Cardassians from destroying it. Do you remember that wormhole that was reported to have opened up briefly in the Bajoran system? Well the Ares was the one that found it and then it closed up behind them for almost three years. The wormhole was actually an anomoly where these non corporeal aliens lived. The Bajorans called them their Prophets. Anyway the only ones that were awake inside of it were Seven and the Captain. They were questioned by these beings and then they were shot out of what they called the Celestial temple and ended up on the edge of the Badlands..."

"And then they were brought here." Chakotay finished for her.

"Exactly." B'Elanna replied. "They've only been in the Delta Quadrant for maybe like a week and a couple of days."

'So they haven't had time to get serious.' Chakotay thought to himself.

"So you're already calling Sisko, Captain?" Ro asked as she turned around and gave B'Elanna a look.

"Don't start with me, Ro." B'Elanna said back with mock anger.

With a roll of his eyes, Chakotay tuned out their friendly banter. When he had recruited both of these women he had thought that it was a mistake because both of them had strong personalities. To his surprise however they got along very well and had become fast friends. Caught in his musings and wondering about the fate of the Maquis on this ship, a bowl of mushroom soup was suddenly placed in front of him. Looking up, he saw that Seska had given it to him.

"You looked like you were hungry." she told him with a smile.

"Bah... I guess I have to make my own plate." B'Elanna said with a frown as she stood up and walked towards the counter.

"Thank you, Seska." Chakotay said, even as he looked over at Seven for a moment. "This is my favorite."

"I know." she replied, not losing her smile, even though she caught his sideways glance.

As Seska sat down beside him, Tuvok suddenly walked into the room. Looking around, the Vulcan suddenly spotted Chakotay and walked over to his table.

"I have spoken to the Captain on behalf of our crew." Tuvok announced as he sat down at their table.

"And..." Ro said, before Chakotay could say anything.

"And he wants to see Chakotay at 0700 hours." Tuvok replied as he looked from the beautiful Bajoran woman to Chakotay. "He said that he has a very important offer for you and the rest of our crew."

"Do you know what he has planned for us?" Seska asked.

"No." Tuvok smoothly lied. "However worrying about it is..."

"Illogical... yeah we know." Seska replied, with a roll of her eyes. Sometimes she really hated that Vulcan.

"Look at Tom over there with that poor girl." Ro said as she looked over at the pilot laughing at one of his own jokes.

"You know him?" Chakotay asked, his interest suddenly piqued.

"Yeah, we went to the Academy together." Ro replied, offhandedly. "God he was a pig. Every pretty girl he saw, he tried to take advantage of. That girl just doesn't know what she's in for."

'Is that a fact?' Chakotay thought to himself. Thinking about the situation for a moment, he let it go for now and concentrated on the safety of his people.

The Next Day

Observation Lounge

0701 Hours

"You want me to serve as your First Officer?" Chakotay asked in shock. He was shocked three years ago when the man had asked him, but even more so now because so much had happened in those years.

"Don't sound too surprised." Ben replied with a smile. "I did offer you the position before."

"But..." as Chakotay tried to say something further, Ben just waved him off.

"I've already talked to Kira and she's decided to step down and become my, Sub-Commander." Ben informed him.

"Why would you do that?" Chakotay asked. "And why give her that position? A Sub-Commander hasn't been used by the Federation in years."

"Well, Chakotay a good number of the crew is now Maquis." Ben said as he stood to his feet and poured himself and Chakotay a glass of brandy. "That is if you've decided to become a part of this crew?" at Chakotay's nod he continued, as he gave the other man the glass of alcohol that he was holding. "And just to be completely honest I need for you and your crew to believe me when I said we are going to work together as one crew. I can't think of a better way to do that, can you?"

"I..."

"As for Kira, we've talked and I decided to make her a Sub-Commander of this ship, with the under-ranking of Major, because we've decided to re-establish the MACO team of which she's going to be in charge of." Ben went on. "It's going to be a combination of Starfleet and Maquis members and they will be in charge of protecting this ship and the members on it. In just this past week we've seen... we've seen so many things."

"Tell me about it." Chakotay replied as he took a swig of brandy.

"Well..."

"Well what?" Chakotay asked.

"Are you going to accept my offer or not?" Ben asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, sir." Chakotay replied as he narrowed his eyes. "But only on one condition. I'm not going to be your little token Maquis officer. I want to make sure that my people are taken care of and get equal rights on this ship."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Ben replied as he handed his new First Officer a padd. Excepting it, he read it's contents and his eyes widened.

"You've decided to make B'Elanna your new Chief Engineer?" Chakotay asked as he stood to his feet.

"She seems more than capable don't you think?" Ben asked. "I've decided to place my current Chief into the MACO team because of his experience in the Federation-Cardassian war. I'm not totally convinced on Miss Torres so in addition to his duties in MACO he will still check up on her from time to time until he's satisfied that she knows what she's doing. I'll let you deliver the good news to her. I also want a list of possible candidates from the Maquis that you think will make a good addition to the MACO team. Your duties officially start tomorrow at 0700 hours and I expect to see you in uniform. Dismissed Commander."

"Captain." Chakotay said over his shoulder as he headed towards the door. "Thank you." and with that he was out of the door.

"What do you think, Constable?" Ben asked, as Odo morphed from being a vase and stood beside him, his arms already crossed.

"I still don't trust him just yet." Odo said gruffly. "I'll be sure to keep a close eye on him."

"Very good." was all Ben would say as he sat back in his chair.

"Sir, do you think giving his people guns is a wise decision?" Odo suddenly asked.

"It doesn't matter if they have them today or tomorrow, I have to know if I can trust these people." Ben said as he took a sip of brandy. "And if anything goes wrong or if they try to plan anything at least we'll get a warning from Tuvok."

"Just in case, I'll put some counter measures into place." Odo said as he walked out of the door. Watching him leave, Ben hoped that they wouldn't need them.

A/N I know some people are thinking that I was wrong about Tuvok being a Lt. but I looked it up and he only became a Lt. Commander because most of Voyager's personnel were killed. As far as Ro knowing Tom it was actually on an unused scene for Voyager that they were going to show Tom walking with Ro at the Academy.