Later that morning in the ready room, Kathryn and Chakotay were debating the best way to restock Voyager’s supplies from the M-class planet.  Preliminary scans had been confirmed.  There was a wide variety of plant life that should include palatable leaves, roots, seeds and fruits.  There was no indication of any higher intelligence, so they could select their landing site based on suitability and convenience alone.  Scans completed since they entered orbit had indicated some trace minerals, including salt, in accessible spots across the surface.  The planet itself, like most M-class planets, resembled Earth from space.  Its surface was mostly water but its landmasses were scattered more evenly across the surface than Earth’s.  The planet had no moon, so there were no tides as known on Earth.  The shores were calm except when stirred by wind or storms.  The debate was not about where to obtain supplies or which supplies to seek out; those issues had been decided in the early hours of the morning by the crew analyzing scan results and had only needed the captain’s approval.  Now, the captain and first officer were debating whether to land Voyager and take a few weeks break from their journey.  They could replenish Voyager’s air supply completely if they landed.  They could give most of the crew extended shore leave once they had collected the supplies they needed; Chakotay thought he could prepare a shift rotation that would only require one duty shift in 10 days from all but a few of the crew.  The fact that B’Elanna could effect some minor external repairs was an added benefit.  Kathryn and Chakotay had been debating the point for over an hour.  She had raised the possibility; he had supported it.  Thirty minutes later, she was nearly convinced and he had almost talked himself out of it.  The discussion continued for another half hour until each returned to the starting point.

The discussion was interrupted by the door chime.

“Enter,” Kathryn sighed.  They did not need an interruption.  This had to be resolved and soon.  She looked up to see Tom Paris enter the ready room.

“Captain, Commander, I’m sorry to interrupt.  I know I should have waited, but my housing change requires me to move as soon as I go off duty later tonight so I needed to talk to you before then, Commander.  Is this convenient?”

“Not really, Tom, but you’re here so let’s deal with your problem.  Don’t you like your new quarters?”  Chakotay had assigned Tom quarters near the turbolift in the opposite direction from Tuvok’s quarters.

“The quarters are fine, sir.  I would just prefer to remain with the rest of the crew.  Most of my friends and my entire department are on Decks 6 or 8.  I’d be much more comfortable staying where I am.”  Chakotay looked at Kathryn and read her mind or rather her stare.  This was his problem.  Tom clearly didn’t expect anyone else to be moving to Deck 2 and Chakotay was not going to tell him until the new assignments were posted for Harry and B’Elanna later in the day.

“Sorry, Tom.  You’re moving.  You should have reassigned yourself when your promotion came through.  I should have moved you when I was assigned to Voyager as First Officer.  You’re not just a senior officer, you’re the fourth highest officer on the ship and the crew needs to keep that in mind once in a while.  This will help.  I don’t think this will hurt your friendships or impact negatively on your department.  Deck 2 is not a restricted deck; your friends and the crew can come to see you whenever they want.”

“There’s no way I can talk you out of this, Commander?  Captain?”

“No, Tom, there isn’t”

“Don’t look at me, Tom.  Chakotay handles housing and I’m not going to undermine his authority on this.  Trust him.  He’s earned that trust just as you’ve earned better quarters.”  Kathryn felt a bit guilty for making it sound like Tom had challenged Chakotay’s authority and didn’t trust his judgment.  She knew he hadn’t meant his request to sound like that.  She also knew that every once in a while Tom needed to be reminded of the chain of command and the way some actions or words could be misinterpreted.

“Yes, ma’am.  Commander, I’m sorry; I wasn’t questioning your authority in this matter just now.  I also did not intend to try to go over your head to the captain.  I was just hoping that you might have thought I wanted this and were doing it for that reason only.  I meant no disrespect, sir.  I’d better get moving.”  All three smiled at Tom’s joke.

“I understand, Tom.  Dismissed.”  Chakotay looked at Kathryn after Tom left. “Wonder if he’ll feel better when I post the notice that B’Elanna and Harry are moving to Deck 2?”  Kathryn returned his smile before turning back to their previous topic.

“Chakotay, this discussion about landing Voyager is getting ridiculous.  We’ve both changed our minds at least two times.  We agree on all the issues.  We agree the benefits outweigh the risks.  Why are we unsure we should do this?”

“I’m not sure.  There is no reason not to land the ship.  I’d like to be able to walk out an access door and step on solid ground again.  It’s been a long time.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.”

“What’s the problem?”

“Maybe Kathryn and Chakotay want this personally and it’s making the captain and first officer hesitate.”

“You could be right.  Why don’t we run it past Tuvok and see what he says?  While you do that, I’ll get away teams together to collect the minerals.  There are also at least two locations to search for edible plants away from the best landing site.  I’ll get a team to each of those locations as well.  We may as well send them out right away even if we land Voyager.“

“Yes, sir!  I’ll get on it right away, sir!”  Chakotay flinched inwardly at Kathryn’s teasing just as Tom had.  In some ways the two men were very much alike, but neither would appreciate the comparison.  Chakotay knew what she was thinking so often that he sometimes forgot to let her actually issue his orders.  They were a good team and she was the captain, but an onlooker would be excused for thinking the first officer made a lot of the decisions that should have been made by the captain.  Chakotay was contrite.  He hated it when he did this to her.  He worked hard to avoid acting without her explicit orders or authorization when they were required.

“I’m sorry, Captain.  May I proceed with your permission?”  When she nodded, he continued, “Other than Tom, do you want me to hold off assigning anyone else to an away team?”

“Better keep B’Elanna off the lists until I’ve spoken with Tuvok.  Put Joe Carey and Sam Wildman on one of the mineral collection shuttles.  But I don’t want you coordinating these away missions.  Harry needs more experience on coordinating away missions so put him in charge of them and you act as a resource if he needs help.”

“Aye, Captain.  Captain?”

“Yes, Commander?”

“Permission to shake up Harry before I give him his assignment?”

“Permission granted.  Dismissed, Commander.”  Kathryn chuckled.  She wondered what Chakotay had in mind for Harry, who wasn’t due on the bridge for another four hours.  She was getting ready to call Tuvok to the ready room when Chakotay opened a com line as the ready room doors opened.  He knew she was curious so he decided he would satisfy her curiosity this time.  “Chakotay to Kim.”

“Kim here, Commander.”

“In my office on the double, Ensign!”  Chakotay was in the door between the ready room and the bridge as he spoke.  The door closed behind him as he finished.  Chakotay’s choice of words and completely flat inflection convinced the entire bridge crew that Harry was in serious trouble.  The captain and first officer had been in conference for hours and Commander Paris had come to meet with them even though he was off duty.  Their conviction was reaffirmed when the captain called Tuvok to the bridge almost immediately.  All of the senior officers were involved.  Whatever it was must be really bad because there were no rumors or stories circulating.

Tuvok entered the ready room.

“Yes, Captain.”

“Tuvok, I’d like your opinion on something the Commander and I were discussing.”

“Certainly, Captain.”

“Do you think I should land Voyager for a few weeks while we restock the ship and then give the crew some extended leave?  Chakotay and I have pretty well covered the pros and cons, I just want your opinion.  Land or stay in orbit?”

“A moment to consider, if I may?”  Tuvok quickly reviewed the pros and cons he considered relevant while the captain read a report summarizing the most recent scans of the planet’s weather patterns.  “If I may ask, Captain, am I the deciding vote?”

“No, Tuvok, you aren’t.  The Commander and I actually agree that landing Voyager is a good idea, but we both would like your opinion and assessment of our situation.”

“I think I understand.  You want confirmation that your desire to land has not over-ridden your judgment as officers.  While your feelings may indeed be a factor in your decision, I do not believe your decision is in error.  The benefits to ship and crew exceed the risks.”

“Thank you, Tuvok.  Since you agree with us, we’ll be landing the ship in about three hours after the first four away teams have departed.  Please make sure Tom is on the bridge by then and that Lieutenant Torres is in engineering.  It’s been quite a while since this ship landed and this is the first time Tom and B’Elanna have had to put her down, so I don’t want any mistakes.”

“Captain, may I ask why three hours?  Commander Chakotay is generally able to organize away teams very efficiently and have them on their way in under an hour.”

“Simple, Tuvok.  Commander Chakotay is not coordinating the away teams; Ensign Kim will be handling that.  The three hours are to give him enough time.  He has the knowledge but not the experience to coordinate away missions.  This is as good a time as any for him to learn.  Chakotay will keep an eye on things for me.  If that’s all, Commander, dismissed.”