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Fic: Can't Read My Poker Face
Title: Can't Read My Poker Face
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Janeway & Chakotay (mention of ensemble)
Rating: G
Summary: She knows neither of them have the upper hand, but she's not about to let him see it
Warning: during Caretaker *tag-team written with trisarahtops618 for J/C Spring Fling 2021, over on Discord. Prompt: Let's get active together ; poker face (with some extra inspiration from Lady Gaga)
Disclaimer: The original and current characters belong to Gene Roddenberry, CBS, UPN, Paramount, JJ Abrams, all the movie folks, the TV folks, and their respective actors. The OCs are mine.
The first time she saw him, it was simply a matter of showing strength; be the alpha in the room. This was HER ship, HER crew. He was a good foot taller than her, after all, and nearly twice as wide. She was smaller, and it would take nothing for him to drop her with one hand.
And he could have done it before Tuvok even blinked.
He must have done the math, of course, realizing that he only had one crewman to back him up. Tuvok could have taken the other man down easily. And anyone on the Maquis ship had to know they were no match for the Starfleet vessel.
She had the high ground in the moment, so to speak, but she wasn’t about to show weakness.
She’d had her fill of manly showdowns in Starfleet, and Chakotay and Paris going at each other wasn’t going to get their missing crew back. They could compare sizes until the end of time, but that wasn’t going to get them home.
If the two of them wanted to act like children, that was fine. She would treat them as such. Kathryn and Tuvok immediately started discussing the situation as adults, thereby ignoring the tantrums and letting the two men cool off.
=^=
She didn’t know he would give his own ship to the fight when the Kazon attacked. She probably would have done the same thing, in his position. When his crew was beamed aboard, they were understandably hesitant. After all, each and every one of them had to know they were considered criminals.
But this wasn’t the time for that discussion. Right now, they needed to stop the Kazon attack and save the Ocampa.
The Klingon engineer showed amazing restraint, Kathryn noted. She stepped down at a simple touch from Chakotay - as he had done with her, when she got between him and Paris - and she knew that no matter what happened, moving forward, the two leaders needed to be on the same page.
While Tuvok began sorting out quarters for his quite-former shipmates, Kathryn invited Chakotay to her Ready Room to discuss the next step. She wagered he would have preferred to have this discussion somewhere a bit more neutral, but there wasn’t a lot of neutral on Voyager.
It was all Starfleet.
She knew his file inside out, and that was even before they had left Deep Space Nine. She knew that he was well-versed in Starfleet ways, but that didn’t mean that his crew did. Some of them had Starfleet files, while others were simply civilians who had found a fight. Merging the crews would be difficult, but they had to do something.
There weren’t exactly a lot of separate corners when tensions got too high.
There was also the issue of uniforms. Starfleet officers prided themselves on earning their ranks; how would they feel about these rabble-rousers wearing division colors? How would the Maquis feel about being effectively forced into Starfleet uniforms? After all, wasn’t their whole purpose was to fight the establishment of Starfleet and the Federation?
Kathryn made sure, during her pitch, to emphasize that the crews would work together, but she never guaranteed that they would get their way. There was still a chain of command, and it was better to have Chakotay be on the end of that chain. Yes, Voyager’s crew might not like it, but they would have to respect his Starfleet service.
And they surely didn’t have to agree on anything, but she respected his opinion and was happy to listen to another point of view, so long as she was afforded the same courtesy.
After all, if they couldn’t make an effort to work together, how could they expect the crews to?
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Janeway & Chakotay (mention of ensemble)
Rating: G
Summary: She knows neither of them have the upper hand, but she's not about to let him see it
Warning: during Caretaker *tag-team written with trisarahtops618 for J/C Spring Fling 2021, over on Discord. Prompt: Let's get active together ; poker face (with some extra inspiration from Lady Gaga)
Disclaimer: The original and current characters belong to Gene Roddenberry, CBS, UPN, Paramount, JJ Abrams, all the movie folks, the TV folks, and their respective actors. The OCs are mine.
The first time she saw him, it was simply a matter of showing strength; be the alpha in the room. This was HER ship, HER crew. He was a good foot taller than her, after all, and nearly twice as wide. She was smaller, and it would take nothing for him to drop her with one hand.
And he could have done it before Tuvok even blinked.
He must have done the math, of course, realizing that he only had one crewman to back him up. Tuvok could have taken the other man down easily. And anyone on the Maquis ship had to know they were no match for the Starfleet vessel.
She had the high ground in the moment, so to speak, but she wasn’t about to show weakness.
She’d had her fill of manly showdowns in Starfleet, and Chakotay and Paris going at each other wasn’t going to get their missing crew back. They could compare sizes until the end of time, but that wasn’t going to get them home.
If the two of them wanted to act like children, that was fine. She would treat them as such. Kathryn and Tuvok immediately started discussing the situation as adults, thereby ignoring the tantrums and letting the two men cool off.
=^=
She didn’t know he would give his own ship to the fight when the Kazon attacked. She probably would have done the same thing, in his position. When his crew was beamed aboard, they were understandably hesitant. After all, each and every one of them had to know they were considered criminals.
But this wasn’t the time for that discussion. Right now, they needed to stop the Kazon attack and save the Ocampa.
The Klingon engineer showed amazing restraint, Kathryn noted. She stepped down at a simple touch from Chakotay - as he had done with her, when she got between him and Paris - and she knew that no matter what happened, moving forward, the two leaders needed to be on the same page.
While Tuvok began sorting out quarters for his quite-former shipmates, Kathryn invited Chakotay to her Ready Room to discuss the next step. She wagered he would have preferred to have this discussion somewhere a bit more neutral, but there wasn’t a lot of neutral on Voyager.
It was all Starfleet.
She knew his file inside out, and that was even before they had left Deep Space Nine. She knew that he was well-versed in Starfleet ways, but that didn’t mean that his crew did. Some of them had Starfleet files, while others were simply civilians who had found a fight. Merging the crews would be difficult, but they had to do something.
There weren’t exactly a lot of separate corners when tensions got too high.
There was also the issue of uniforms. Starfleet officers prided themselves on earning their ranks; how would they feel about these rabble-rousers wearing division colors? How would the Maquis feel about being effectively forced into Starfleet uniforms? After all, wasn’t their whole purpose was to fight the establishment of Starfleet and the Federation?
Kathryn made sure, during her pitch, to emphasize that the crews would work together, but she never guaranteed that they would get their way. There was still a chain of command, and it was better to have Chakotay be on the end of that chain. Yes, Voyager’s crew might not like it, but they would have to respect his Starfleet service.
And they surely didn’t have to agree on anything, but she respected his opinion and was happy to listen to another point of view, so long as she was afforded the same courtesy.
After all, if they couldn’t make an effort to work together, how could they expect the crews to?