Prompt: Holt - "Well that's certainly not what I expected this to be about." - 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'
The chime of the door broke through Chakotay's concentration on the performance evals he was reviewing. Given the necessity of merging the two crews, and finding themselves stranded in the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay knew that the evaluations could be an early indicator of problems with crew members. The fact that he didn't know a majority of the crew well didn't make the task any easier.
"Come," he called out, grateful for the interruption, even if it involved B'Elanna and her temper again.
But it wasn't B'Elanna, Carey or any of the engineering staff that walked into his office. Instead, Voayger's cocky, young helmsman stepped through the door.
"Do you have a few minutes, Commander?" Paris asked as the door slid shut behind him.
Chakotay motioned to the other chair. "Have a seat, Paris," he said, wondering who the helmsman had managed to rub the wrong way today. With Paris, it could be either Maquis or Starfleet personnel, as members from both crews had a reason to dislike him. As he had saved his life back on the Ocompa home world, Chakotay felt compelled to give the younger man a second chance, even if Paris had betrayed his trust once before.
"So, who do you need protection from?" Chakotay asked once Paris was settled in the chair across from him.
"As much as I like the idea of you being my body guard, no one," Paris replied. "Everyone seems content to ignore me. However, the same can't be said for Gerron."
Chakotay felt his muscles tense up at the mention of his youngest crew member from the Val Jean. "What about Gerron?" he asked, a hard edge to his voice.
"I came across some Starfleet personnel giving him a hard time yesterday," Paris replied, the memory of the security officer holding the young Bajoran against the wall coming back to him, as well as Gerron's flinching at the raised hand. "I don't think it was an isolated incident either, given how frightened of the security officer he seemed."
"And you're only bringing this up now?"
"He didn't want me to report it and I wasn't sure that I should. The more I thought about it though, the more I felt compelled to report it to someone. I don't want to see the kid get hurt."
Paris' admission surprised Chakotay. He had been convinced the only one Paris cared about was Paris. The pilot's actions since coming to the Delta Quadrant was making Chakotay rethink that evaluation. Either he had been wrong or Paris really was changing.
"What?"
"When you walked through that door, I didn't expect you to be showing concern about someone else."
Paris shrugged. "Gerron's a good kid and he keeps to himself. He doesn't deserve to be treated unfairly."
"Tell me who was involved and exactly what you saw," Chakotay said, completely agreeing with Paris' assessment. If anyone was giving the young Bajoran a hard time for no reason, Chakotay planned on getting to the bottom of it.