Spirit Walk_ Old Wounds (Book 1) - Christie Golden [21]
Chakotay also decided he’d be the one to set the example. When he arrived in sickbay, he was not surprised to see three crew members getting this particular duty out of the way early. He had not met any of them yet and hoped he could use this opportunity to introduce himself and chat a bit. They were all lying on beds, and as one they bolted upright and would have slipped to the floor to stand as he entered. He waved them back.
“As you were,” he said, trying and failing to stifle a grin. Hesitantly they obeyed, but he could tell his presence here was rattling them. They were all fresh out of the Academy and seemed very nervous. As he looked at the three sets of wide, admiring eyes, he thought, They’re so young they didn’t fight in the Dominion War, and the adventure of Voyager is probably quite appealing.
After a few awkward moments spent futilely trying to engage them in pleasant chitchat, Chakotay retreated to Kaz’s office, trying to keep out of the way until the doctor had finished with the three recent cadets. When they left, all of them casting furtive, awestruck glances behind them at their captain, Chakotay hopped onto a bed.
“Looks like you’re the only one on the ship who’s got his hands full,” Chakotay commented.
“This is a first,” said Kaz, glancing down at his medical tricorder as he scanned Chakotay. “I’ve served on a ship before, and I always practically had to beg the crew to come in for their baseline physicals.”
“It’s been a pretty quiet trip so far,” said Chakotay.
Kaz’s blue eyes flickered to Chakotay’s brown ones. “And that’s a problem?”
“No,” Chakotay replied. “Just unusual. It was hard to be bored in the Delta Quadrant.”
“I can imagine,” said Kaz. “Borg, Hirogen, Kazon…you had your hands full. Now, lie down and let the good doctor put some cortical monitors on.”
Chakotay obeyed. There was a comfortable silence between the friends, punctuated only by the occasional sound of the equipment as it hummed and beeped.
Finally, Chakotay said, “Jarem…I wanted to ask you a question.”
“Go ahead.”
“Has this mission been stirring up any…any memories for you?”
Kaz again looked at him piercingly. “Yes, as a matter of fact, it has. This is the first time I’ve been directly involved in anything that has to do with the Cardassians, even peripherally, since Gradak’s death. Since I received the Kaz symbiont.”
“Same for me,” said Chakotay. “I was talking to Ellis and he brought up the fact that there are so few Maquis left. I couldn’t help but think about Arak Katal.”
“Bastard,” Kaz said as calmly as if he were ordering tea from the replicator. “I tell you, Chakotay, I truly hope we find him one day. It would be immensely satisfying to testify at his trial. That’s the best I could hope for since the Federation frowns on executions.”
Chakotay coughed quietly, but Kaz too had heard the sound of the doors hissing open. Two more fresh-faced youngsters stood there, practically gaping at beholding the Great Captain Chakotay.
“All right, Captain,” Kaz said, “I’ve completed the physical. You may go.”
Chakotay smiled at the newcomers, who gazed back at him with round eyes. He was all in favor of a crew respecting their captain—hell, no one had respected Janeway more than he—but this attitude was ridiculous.
Time to start getting to know his crew.
Chapter
6
JANEWAY POURED HERSELF another cup of coffee and settled back down at her desk at Starfleet Headquarters. She sipped the aromatic beverage—even after six months of drinking the real stuff again, she delighted in it—and looked at her “to do” list.
She knew that all of her former crew had had an…interesting time trying to adjust to “regular” life here in the Alpha Quadrant after seven years of journeying, but she wondered if anyone—with the exceptions of Icheb and Seven of Nine—had had to make a more convoluted leap than she. It was quite a change, going from captain of a lost starship to a desk job here at Starfleet Headquarters. She had always thought