Resignation

Fanfiction
Title:	Resignation
Author(s):	L.R. Bowen
Date(s):	1997
Length:
Genre(s):
Fandom(s):
Relationship(s):
External Links:	Read here
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Resignation is a Star Trek: VOY Chakotay/Ro Laren story by L.R. Bowen.

Reactions and Reviews

"What if" stories are why many of us write fan fiction. And backstories, there's another good reason to write fanfic. So combine the two and you have: What if, when Chakotay resigned from Starfleet to join the Maquis, the recruiter who tapped him for the rebel group was Ro Laren? Great premise, right? So in April of '95, when we knew next to nothing about Chakotay's background, Laura Bowen wrote "Resignation" on just that premise. It's a nice, tight little story, that offers glimpses into Chakotay's past without making too many flat statements that could be contradicted later (always a possibility when working in a series that's still being filmed).

What I like about this story is the way that it seems to be only a brief-encounter type short story and then turns complex on the reader. One can't imagine a better partner for Ro, still scarred by her time in the prison camps, than Chakotay, who Laura writes as the sensitive and talented lover we all like to think he is. That there is an emotional connection as well as a physical one is inevitable and Laura manages to balance the sweetness of their growing fondness for one another with the sadness that, due to circumstances, this can only be a one time thing.

"Resignation" is much more than a fuck story throwing together two characters who possibly might have met. The sex is well written and is made all the more interesting by the emotional content. I highly recommend it to people who like their smut to be about complex interesting characters in believable situations.