Harry Kim – Something to Celebrate

Harry Kim ran his finger over the new rank insignia on his collar for the umpteenth time that day while he waited for the turbolift to reach its destination. Even he didn't know why he kept doing it – perhaps because the full reality of his promotion to Lieutenant Commander hadn't quite sunk in yet. Well, it would soon enough, when he went on his duty assignment. The turbolift stopped and the door opened onto deck two. Kim stepped out and headed for the mess hall, feeling uncomfortable at the emptiness of the corridor.

He hadn't told the others about his new duty assignment or the promotion that went with it. Instead he had saved it for a surprise at tonight's ceremonial dinner. He couldn't wait to see the expression on Tom's face…

When he stepped through the door to the mess hall he took a quick look to see who was sitting at the long food-laden table near the viewports. There were chairs for eight: five of them were occupied. Captain Janeway had not taken a place at the head of the table, but was instead seated next to Chakotay. To his other side was Seven of Nine, who was dressed in a science officer's uniform merited by her recently attained commission . Across from Janeway sat Tuvok, with the Doctor beside him. Tom and B'Elanna hadn't arrived yet. Kim was a little disappointed at that, but he was also glad that he wasn't the last person to arrive – although this was an informal social gathering between friends, he felt embarrassed to be late. The problem with the transporter hadn't been any fault of his, but that knowledge didn't make him feel any better about it.

Janeway, sitting with her back to the viewports and seated towards the nearer end of the table, was the first to notice him. She smiled and got to her feet, prompting everyone else to turn and give him their full attention. "Harry!" she greeted him enthusiastically, "Come on and sit down. We'll start as soon as Tom and B'Elanna get here." She gestured to indicate that he should take a seat next to the Doctor and balance out the number of people on each side of the table.

"Sorry I'm late, Captain," he apologized as he headed for the table, "But there was a problem with the…"

Captain Janeway waved dismissively. "It's all right, Harry. After all, this is dinner," she reminded him with a grin, "Not a duty shift."

Kim chuckled at her words, but the feeling of good humor was quickly overcome by a feeling of almost overwhelming sadness, from the knowledge that his next captain would probably never be his friend as Janeway was – and even if he did manage to develop a friendship with his future commanding officer, it would not be nearly as deep as this one. But he didn't give voice to his feelings: he just took his seat next to the Doctor.

It was the Doctor who first noticed his new rank insignia. "Mr. Kim! You didn't tell us you got a promotion!" Kim was aware of four pairs of eyes turning to focus on him.

He felt obligated to provide an explanation. "I start as operations officer on the U.S.S. Athena in three weeks," he said. Kim smiled. "Don't tell Tom. I want to surprise him." That got a smile out of most of the audience – with the exceptions of Tuvok and Seven.

Seven nodded at him. "Congratulations on your promotion, Lieutenant Commander Kim."

"It has a nice ring to it," Chakotay remarked. "But isn't it a little soon for you to be going on another tour of duty?"

Kim had known that someone was going to ask that question, and he had already spent hours trying to come up with a good answer before he finally cooked up something satisfactory. "Assignments on Sovereign-class starships don't grow on trees," he said. "And I don't want to sit behind a desk on Earth." After a pause, he added, "Exploring is kind of a tough habit to break."

It was more than that, really. The post aboard the Athena was the sort of thing he'd had in mind when he'd gone to Starfleet Academy – a dream come true, and one that could eventually lead to command of his own ship. And, though he would never admit it, he found that the rock and soil of Earth was not nearly as stable beneath his feet as was a starship deck. He couldn't get used to looking out the window and seeing the horizon on a daily basis. Earth had quickly gone from comfortable and familiar to confining and chafing.

Kim had felt better after getting the assignment to the Athena, but not as good as he had expected. Seven years ago the post would have been his dream come true, but somehow the prospect of being a senior officer on a starship in the Alpha Quadrant paled in comparison to being an ensign on Voyager. It was completely irrational, but he couldn't help it. His situation turned that saying about reigning in Hell and serving in Heaven right on its head.

Stop thinking about it, he scolded himself. You're supposed to be having a good time with your friends. He was concentrating so hard on controlling his thoughts that he was startled when the mess hall doors opened to admit Paris and Torres (she could never be "Mrs. Paris" to Kim).

The Captain greeted them with as much enthusiasm as she had done with Kim a few minutes before. None of them made a mention of the couple's tardiness in arriving – having a new baby made that sort of delay inevitable.

"How's Miral doing?" Janeway asked as the two of them took their places at table – Paris next to Kim and Torres beside Seven on the opposite side of the table.

Torres smiled. "She's doing well. But I never thought that a baby could have such a big appetite…" Her eyes flicked to the Doctor, and she held up a hand as if to forestall him. "Please – don't tell me that's common among Klingon infants."

"I wasn't going to," the Doctor assured her, sounding a little miffed.

Kim turned to talk to Paris. "So, Tom…how are you enjoying fatherhood so far?"

"Well," he began, "So far it's…" his voice faltered and he did a doubletake at Kim's collar. The expression on his face was even better than what Kim had anticipated – he couldn't help but grin.

Paris shook his head. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but…well, congratulations." He seemed, for once, to be lost for words.

Tuvok spoke up from the other end of the table. "Now that we are all present, we should begin."

"Of course," Janeway agreed. She took a bottle of champagne from an ice bucket standing in a tripod nearby. In a few precise motions she removed the foil wrapper and popped the cork of the bottle, then poured some champagne into Tuvok's glass before filling her own and passing the bottle on to Chakotay. "We're each going to make a toast," she explained as the bottle was relayed around the table. "I'm going to save mine for last, so…who wants to go first?"

Paris got a mischievous look in his eye. "How about you, Harry?"

Kim was somewhat alarmed at the suggestion – he wasn't much of a public speaker, and he had counted on having some time to come up with a good speech. He shook his head and lifted his hands defensively. "No, I…I couldn't."

"Oh, come on, Harry," B'Elanna insisted. "You're the one who just got a promotion, after all."

"And what does that have to do with it?" he countered defensively. From the looks he was getting from the others at the table, it was obvious that this notion had gone beyond 'flippant suggestion' territory.

"Since we have just learned of your promotion, this event can serve as a celebration of that as well. Therefore, Lieutenant Torres is correct in saying that your good fortune entitles you to make the first speech of the evening," Tuvok supplied. His tone caused Kim to reflect, not for the first time, upon the inaccuracy of the popularly-held belief that Vulcans lacked a sense of humor. They did have one – a very dry, this-close-to-sadistic one.

Kim realized that he wasn't going to get out of this. Janeway was almost certainly going to make the same request of him, and he wouldn't be able to protest. He decided that he might as well give in.

"All right," he conceded, "I'll make the first toast. Just give me a minute to come up with a good one." Kim paused for what seemed to him like a very long time, trying to decide exactly what he had to say and how he was going to say it. After everything that had happened during the past month, getting all his thoughts in order on such short notice was quite a feat. But he managed it.

Once he had planned his speech (more or less), Kim stood up from his chair. "I'm not going to talk about the present. That isn't what we're celebrating here," he began. "What we're celebrating is the past seven years. We accomplished a lot – we got by on limited resources, we made discoveries, we helped people, and we somehow managed to beat the odds every time." There were solemn nods from everyone around the table. So far, so good.

"But I think the most important thing is that somewhere along the way, we stopped being Starfleet, Maquis, hologram, Borg - and became Voyager's crew. And that's what we're really here for." He raised his champagne glass. "To our most important achievement: friendship."

There was a scraping of chairs on the floor as their occupants stood up, a series of clinks as six glasses came together near the center of the table, and a chorus of voices saying the words "To friendship."