It's not the easiest thing in the world to slouch while sitting on a bar stool. To do so requires the aspiring sloucher to have most or even all of his upper body resting on the bar. So not only does the practise of slouching whilst perched atop such a rickety structure require a certain amount of skill, it is also impractical. Not to mention uncomfortable. Hareluk, the bartender, had discovered this through long years of frequenting such places as might afford him the opportunity of sitting on a bar stool, ie anywhere with a bar. He'd even tried slouching on a few bar stools in his day. That was, of course, before he'd settled down and became the person behind the bar, as opposed to being the person on the bar.

Such as he was, Hareluk the bartender, observed the alien in front of him, and decided that if there was ever a slouching competition, he'd win hands down. Maybe it had something to do with the alien physiology. It would probably be impolite to ask. So instead, he gave the guy a refill. The man didn't even look up, simply raised the glass to his lips again, heaving a huge sigh as he did so. Hareluk went to tend another customer, shaking his head. He got cases like this all the time. Ten-to-one it was a female that had this guy so depressed. He new the type - could spot one a mile away. He glanced back at the alien in time to see him give another great sigh, then finish off yet another drink. Yep, definitely a female.

Chakotay blinked down at the empty glass in his hand. How many was that now... five maybe? At least the strange concoction had stopped making his tongue go numb. He could taste it now. Whether or not that was a good thing would require further deliberation. In any case, regaining the feeling in his tongue probably meant the drink wasn't toxic to his biochemistry. A trip to the doctor on returning to Voyager would be all he needed.

He let out a sigh, and slouched further down on the stool. At the other end of the bar, the bartender's eyes widened considerably. What was his problem? The bartender had been watching him since he'd first sat down. Not that he really cared if some alien bartender was staring at him. Chakotay waved the rather tall, lumpy figure over and held up his glass.

"What's this stuff called again?" he asked, wondering why his voice sounded so strange. It sounded like he was speaking with something tied around his tongue.

"Grogal," Hareluk replied, wondering if this peculiar person realised he'd asked the same question four times already. Probably not. Grogal could have that effect on people.

"Grogal, right. And is it supposed to make your tongue go numb?"

The bartender nodded. "And your lips, too, if it's a particularly strong brew. I serve the weaker brew, myself. When people's lips go numb, they tend to start dribbling everywhere, and I've always hated cleaning."

Glancing around the rather dingy room, Chakotay could well believe it. He sighed again. He couldn't believe that this was what he was doing on his shoreleave. The bar was dark, depressing, it smelled, and worst of all, he was alone. Of course, he hadn't planned it this way. Lefrek was a beautiful planet, with pristine alpine regions, warm tropical areas at the equator and all the usual diverse environments found on a planet like this. It was kind of like Earth, only smaller, and the people were rather like humans, only taller and more slender due to the lesser gravity. Their skin was generally darker as well, to counteract the thinner ozone layer. But in any case, a beautiful planet, friendly people, and a whole world of different locations to visit. And where was the second in command of the starship Voyager to be found? Sitting in a crummy bar in the planet's capital city. No, things definitely hadn't turned out the way he'd planned.

He'd wanted to be with Kathryn, of course. He'd even arranged where to take her, and figured out a way to ask her so that she'd actually agree to spend some time with him. It had all been a waste of time, though, because she'd already arranged to spend the day with some of the government representatives they'd met since arriving at Lefrek. She'd explained to him all that she wanted to accomplish during the day; negotiations for extra supplies, information about the surrounding areas of space and so on. And he'd simply stood there, listening to her, and trying not to let the disappointment show on his face. He'd actually offered to forgo his own shoreleave and assist her in what was sure to be a long, tedious day, but she wouldn't hear of it. She had Neelix to assist her, and besides, why should both of them have to miss a day of leisure? Apparently she was unaware that he didn't mind what he did, as long as he did it with her.

Chakotay sighed. Not only was he depressed, he was also completely and utterly pathetic. He continued to wallow in self pity for yet another drink, bringing the total up to seven. As soon as he returned the once-again empty glass to the bar, the bartender appeared in front of him.

"Another?"

"May as well," he replied, shrugging.

Hareluk gave him a refill, then made as if to go. He changed his mind though, and, putting both hands on the bar, leaned his face close to Chakotay's.

"You know, pal, whoever she is, she's probably not worth it," he confided.

Chakotay squinted up at him out of a grogal-induced haze, and tried to understand the question. He made little progress.

"What?" he asked finally.

Hareluk pressed on, oblivious to his confusion. "She reject you? Dump you? Stand you up? I tell ya, I've heard it all a million times. Take my advice: forget her."

Somewhere beyond the greyish fog, a part of Chakotay's brain must still have been functioning properly, because he suddenly realised what the bartender was talking about. Irritated that his behaviour was so transparent, he spoke sharply, or at least as sharply as he could manage with a tongue that was apparently tied in knots.

"I'm sorry, you're mistaken. I'm just in here for a drink, not to try and forget my relationship problems."

"No need to get touchy, friend," he said, not buying a word of it, "But see what she's doing to you? I can tell by the way you're acting... She rejected you, huh? Turned you down. There's only two ways you can deal with it -"

Chakotay broke in abruptly. "It's not that simple. She's..." he trailed off again as the bartenders eyes lit up in triumph.

"I knew it. And you're making excuses for her? She rejects you, and you sit here miserable, making excuses for her," Hareluk shook his head. This was a sorry case if ever he saw one. Lucky he was here to give the poor guy some advice. "You're a spacer, aren't you? We get a lot of you around here. This female... she a crewmate? Or someone back home?"

"Crewmate... sort of," he answered, too intoxicated to tell the nosy bartender to mind his own business, "It's kind of complicated."

"Oh, she's married," Hareluk nodded, his tone sympathetic.

"No!" he managed to work some indignation up from somewhere, then blurted out, "She's my commanding officer."

Hareluk took this revelation in stride, nodding once again. "Oh, and let me guess. She doesn't want to undermine her authority by dating a member of her crew?"

Chakotay's face leapt to show an even greater degree of confusion. "How did you...?"

"Oh, my brother's in the Space Service. Security. My brother's not too bright... Anyway, he had the same problem. I told him the same thing I'm going to tell you. There's only two ways to deal with it. You can forget it, which I'm guessing you don't want to do, or there's the other way. It's this 'other way' that can be tricky. See, you've got to be more assertive. But not too assertive. These command types... They don't like being pushed around. And they hate having their authority undermined. But the thing is, they're not going to make the first move. Not without a little prodding. You following me?" he asked, waving his hand in front of Chakotay's glazed eyes.

He jerked up a little. "Huh, oh, sure. More assertive," he managed. It was becoming harder and harder to concentrate. "Uh... Does this stuff..."

"Grogal," Hareluk supplied.

"Grogal, right. Does this stuff ever cause... unconsciousness?"

'Unconsciousness', Chakotay decided, was quite possibly the most difficult word he'd ever had to pronounce.

"Sure, sometimes," the bartender was saying, "Why, you feeling woozy?"

Chakotay shook his head, which only succeeded in making the room spin. "I think, though, that it might be a good idea to go back to my ship."

Hareluk shrugged.

"Here," Chakotay threw some local currency on the bar. "'s that enough?"

"Just right," he replied. And it was. Especially after he added twenty-five percent to the existing tab. He'd never said the advice came for free.

Chakotay concentrated on standing up. On the third try, he managed it.

"Now, you remember what I told you, friend. Assertive," Hareluk urged the slightly-swaying alien.

Chakotay nodded, then reached his hand up and hit his commbadge. "Chakotay to Voyager," he slurred.

"Sir...?" came an uncertain voice.

"Uh... one to beam up."

"Acknowledged, Commander."

Hareluk watched with interest as his latest customer disappeared into a misty blue light. Transporters on Lefrek were only just being developed, and it was still odd to see one used. Sighing, he moved to the other end of the bar where another customer was sitting, impatiently awaiting service.

Chakotay only just managed to stay upright when he rematerialised on the transporter pad. He stood for a moment, trying to get his bearings. Ensign Turner, on transporter duty, watched with one eyebrow raised as the commander stumbled off the pad, nodded in her direction, stumbled again, then finally made it out of the room.

"Looks like somebody had an interesting shoreleave," she said to the empty room, then sat back down with a sigh to await the next equally-exciting routine transport.

Tom Paris looked up in surprise as Voyager's second in command stumbled through the door.

"Commander! Are you alright?" he asked, alarmed, grabbing a medical tricorder.

Somewhere in Chakotay's cloudy brain, the irony of it being Tom on duty was noted with chagrin.

"I'm fine, Tom," he slurred, "I've just had too much to drink. Think you could sober me up?"

Tom ran the scanner over him, confirming what his words. He adjusted the tricorder, then scanned him again.

"Not a problem, Commander," he said cheerfully, as he went to get a hypospray. "So I guess you had a good time down on the surface...?"

Chakotay didn't reply.

"Well, if you managed to get this drunk so early in the day, it must have been a good time." He pressed the hypospray to his patient's neck, "There. Now just sit there for a while and let it take affect."

Chakotay sat quietly for a few minutes, ignoring Tom's chatter, and waited for the haze to lift. Funnily enough, his memory hadn't been impaired. He still remembered the conversation he'd had with the bartender. Assertive. The word rang through his mind. It made sense. He hated to admit it, but in a way it did. His current tactics were simply to be there for her, making sure she knew she could count on him. But the bartender had been right. She was never going to make the 'first move' by herself. But he didn't want to pressure her - he respected her too much for that. But maybe there was a compromise. He could certainly be, as the bartender had suggested, more assertive. The idea began to grow on him.

He would be more assertive.

He would make sure she was aware of his feelings, of what he wanted. He would make it harder for her to ignore her own feelings, harder to ignore what she had been ignoring since they'd first met. All this he would do, and little by little he would break down her defenses. And he had an idea how to start. He would have to go back down to the surface, but he still had a few hours left of shoreleave, so that wouldn't be a problem.

Resolved on this new course of action, he suddenly realised that his head was clear. Gingerly standing up, in case there was any residual dizziness, he made his way out of sick bay.

"Thanks, Tom," he called to the lieutenant, cutting him off mid-sentence, as he left the room.

Tom watched the commander go with interest, wondering what had gotten into Voyager's First Officer. He couldn't wait to tell Harry about this.

end scene 1

SCENE 2 - Janeway

Kathryn Janeway felt short. Every single adult on Lefrek was taller than her, apparently, and by a considerable margin. After three days of bending her head back to see everyone, it was beginning to grate on her nerves. Throughout her entire adult life, she'd been accustomed to being shorter than most people. That's why she'd adopted the high heels on her boots. And even with the extra three inches, the only man on board Voyager she could really look in the eye was Neelix. That, she could handle - she was more than used to it by now. And as a general rule it didn't really matter that much. After all, height wasn't exactly a prerequisite for command. But still... Sometimes she couldn't shake the feeling... usually when dressing down a 6' 6 ensign, or arguing with an even taller Klingon... that she must look slightly ridiculous.

And here she was, on a planet where the only people under six foot tall were children. She didn't want to think how she must appear, surrounded by masses of towering figures. At first it hadn't bothered her. There were, after all, other tall races in the Federation and she'd had dealings with a number of them. Still... after three days with them... She sighed. There was nothing for it. She simply felt short.

As if sensing her reverie, the woman walking at her side looked down and smiled. Of all the diplomats, representatives, ministers and other officials she'd met while on Lefrek, Enna was the one she'd come to know best. The two of them had got on quite well during the negotiations, and Janeway found her easy to talk to. She did not know her very well, having only just met her three days ago, and yet she had the feeling that given enough time they would have become good friends.

Perhaps it was the fact that she was not in any way responsible for her. She'd experienced the same thing often enough on the various worlds they'd visited since coming to the Delta Quadrant. It was only natural, she supposed. After such an extended period of being the Captain all day, every day, it was refreshing to meet people outside of the crew. People who you weren't responsible for stranding 70 000 light years from home. People who you weren't responsible for protecting, feeding, and clothing... Responsibility. Sometimes she found herself despising that word.

She lifted her face to the tall woman beside her and spoke.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you for taking my side with Minister Jain. The extra dilithium you helped me wheedle out of him will help us greatly."

"It was my pleasure, Kathryn. Jain was being miserly, as usual, and I found a great satisfaction in making him open his tight little fists... as usual."

They both laughed at this, having found a mutual dislike for the Minister of Resources. It was odd, she found, having so many people calling her by her first name. The people of Lefrek all had exceedingly long names, comprising of many parts, and all generally went by their first names outside of special occasions. It helped simplify matters, they explained. It seemed the sensible thing to do to go by their first names as well while here.

Still, it was... odd. Like the ever-present awareness of her height, or lack thereof, she was constantly being reminded of the fact that normally the only person who ever called her 'Kathryn' was Chakotay.

Chakotay. Her mind skipped a beat as she thought of him. While part of her remained focused on making conversation with Enna as they traversed the government complex, another part of her insisted on thinking of her First Officer.

She'd last seen him the night before. He was scheduled for shoreleave today, and he'd approached her after she'd returned from the surface for the evening. She'd been mildly surprised when he asked her to go with him to see... the Something-or-other Falls. She couldn't remember the name, but he'd described them as a series of waterfalls that covered the entire side of a mountain... or something like that. Apparently the Falls were renowned all over Lefrek. But none of that had mattered, since she was already committed to trade negotiations today. She remembered how he'd tried to hide his disappointment from her.

She was disappointed herself, but there was nothing to be done. She supposed he'd found something else to do, perhaps with B'Elanna. Tom, she knew, was rostered on Sickbay, which probably left Voyager's Chief Engineer with nothing to do. She hoped he hadn't been too disappointed.

Still, another part of her had been relieved that she'd been busy today. She knew why. There had been a subtle change in their relationship since the letters came from Earth. Nothing genuine, and nothing she could pinpoint. Perhaps they'd been eating alone more often in the mess hall, and perhaps they'd been spending more time together after hours than usual. Whether he sought her out or vice versa was difficult to say. But they both knew that the next step in their relationship might be taken at any time. She suspected this day on the surface together would have been that next step.

No wonder she'd breathed a mental sigh of relief.

But that only raised the question: did she want to further their relationship at all? Again she was of mixed feelings. Part of her, the part that was attracted to him both physically and mentally, wanted to more than she was prepared to admit. While the other part, the part that had been drilled with Command protocol and procedure, and an overwhelming sense of responsibility, for the past twenty-five years held her back.

Words from over three years ago came back to haunt her.

"As Captain, that's one luxury I can't afford..."

Did she still believe that? She shook her head slightly in confusion, not really knowing what she believed anymore.

"...and in twenty days time the whole of Lefrek will celebrate the Unification Day Festival, that marks the day we became one people, ruled by one government rather than many separate nations fighting for supremacy," Enna was saying as they entered a courtyard deep within the complex.

They crossed the square, the afternoon sun reflecting cheerfully off the colourful paving stones. The final negotiations were now complete, thankfully, and Janeway could have been back on Voyager by now with Neelix, who'd been assisting her the past three days. Enna, however, had wanted to introduce her to Pedron, her husband, and was taking her over to another part of the vast sprawl of buildings where he worked.

Just as they stepped into the shadows on the other side of the courtyard, a half-dozen men suddenly appeared in front of them. She stepped back in alarm, only to find yet another behind her, who grasped her upper arms tightly. She let out a yell of surprise and anger, and she found herself being propelled further into the shadows. The commbadge was taken from her chest. She struggled to get free, though it was a futile attempt with two looming Lefrekians now holding her on either side. She kept trying though, looking frantically over to where Enna was engaged in a similar struggle.

She kicked back with one foot, managing to catch one of her attackers in the shin. Taking the opportunity, she struck out and elbowed the same one in the groin. Hard. Now free on one side, she was about to start in on the other with renewed fervour, when she felt the telltale tingle against ger throat, and heard the characteristic whoosh as she was injected with a drug.

The last thing she knew before darkness engulfed her was the satisfaction of hearing the rather enthusiastic cursing of the attacker she'd managed to overcome, now writhing on the ground in pain.

end scene 2

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Captain Janeway drank cups of coffee today.