Spirit Walk_ Old Wounds (Book 1) - Christie Golden [27]
Somewhat calmer, she returned to her station. No one had manned ops while she was on her lunch break; Harry was there and could have stepped in if anything had happened. No one knew ops better than Harry. Chakotay sat in his command chair, scrutinizing the computer. He glanced up as she entered.
“How was lunch?” he asked politely.
“Fine, sir, thank you.”
“You’re back early. You can take your full break if you’d like, Lieutenant.” He indicated the image on the screen of stars streaking past. “It’s not as if we’re on red alert.”
“Thank you, sir, I prefer to be at my station.”
Chakotay smiled at her, but his eyes searched hers for a moment. She colored slightly under his scrutiny.
“As you wish, Lieutenant. Can’t say I’m not happy to have you here. Mr. Kim, you have the bridge, I’ll be in my ready room,” he said.
Kim moved down toward the captain’s chair. Lyssa deftly touched a few buttons at ops and frowned slightly. She looked around; Kim was the highest ranking officer present, and they were old friends. She didn’t like to reveal her ignorance, but she trusted him.
“Harry—excuse me, Lieutenant Kim?”
“Yes?” He looked over at her.
“Anything happen while I was gone?”
“Nope. All quiet. Why do you ask?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly. “It’s just…well, never mind.”
Kim smiled. “Bet it’s a ghost.”
“A what?”
“A ghost. Something that’s not really there. That happens a lot after a ship’s undergone extensive work. You’ll see something that looks out of the ordinary, and then when you try to check it, poof, it’s gone.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what’s happening,” Campbell said, relieved.
Kim shook his head. “They really did a job on Voyager. They’d pretty well gutted her when we came aboard a few months ago.”
“Plus they removed all your futuristic technology,” said Tare, from the conn.
“Yeah, more’s the pity,” Kim said. The door to the bridge hissed and Ellis stepped out of the turbolift. Instantly, everyone tensed and returned their attention to their jobs. The lighthearted banter evaporated like water on a hot day. Kim quickly yielded his chair and returned to his station.
Lyssa stifled a sigh. She hoped Priggy would learn to loosen up. And, she thought, she hoped the rather priggy David Chittenden would too.
Chapter
8
CHAKOTAY NOW HAD a goal: to get the crew comfortable with him and with one another, at least somewhat, by the time they completed their mission. He’d take it section by section, dropping in, learning names and faces, and doing whatever he could to put his crew at ease. His first stop was engineering.
It was strange not to see—or hear—B’Elanna, he thought as he stepped off the turbolift. He missed his old friend, but knew that Vorik was a more than adequate successor. Vorik was finishing up a conversation with someone when Chakotay stepped behind his chief engineer and cleared his throat.
“Captain,” said Vorik, turning smoothly, “what a surprise.” He did not look surprised. Chakotay wondered if he ever did. “What can I do for you, sir?”
“I’d like to see your crew, see how you’re doing. And I wanted to stretch my legs.” From Vorik’s expression, this was clearly not an adequate explanation, but then again, Chakotay was the captain. He didn’t have to give adequate explanations.
“How is Voyager operating with its recent adjustments?” Chakotay asked.
Vorik’s slanted eyebrows drew together in the closest approximation of resentment and disapproval Chakotay had ever seen him display.
“It was illogical to remove the technology,” he said. B’Elanna had shared Vorik’s sentiments, and Chakotay wished she could see the look on Vorik’s face right now. The two chief engineers had more in common than he’d thought.
“For what it’s worth, I agree with you,” Chakotay said. “But neither of us is part of Starfleet Command.”
When Voyager had returned home, the well-traveled