A Voyager story started after 'State of Flux', then continued after 'Maneuvers', and since that's a long time ago a lot of things won't ever happen like this anymore, but I hope it's still a nice story to read :)

If you don't know who Leena is, read my story 'Unexpected Meetings' first.

The latest update here is a major fix in formatting, which was really rather terrible. I've written several new stories and finally figured out how to upload a file and not lose half the formatting, so I'm slowly working my way through the older stories and fixing them. Sorry, no new content in this story!

Disclaimer: Paramount owns the universe and all the regular characters, I just play here.

Trust Once Broken

1. A staff meeting.

Janeway looked at the readings the away teams had sent up to the ship. There, that trace might mean a mineral deposit. She took another sip of Neelix's latest 'coffee' and grimaced. Slightly better than the last batch, but it wasn't coffee. She looked back at the padd. *I wish I could go down to the planet and take a look for myself. But there's just so much to do.*

As she tapped instructions for the away team on the padd, she made her decision. She enjoyed some of the hands-on science, and she didn't like giving it out of her hands, but she couldn't give it the time it needed and deserved. Their science department was small; the nature of their mission had not required it to be large. And now here they were, in an unexplored part of the Galaxy, where there was so much for science to discover, and it always got  squeezed somewhere in between other assignments. Neither she, nor Chakotay, nor any of the other senior officers had time to double as a full-time science officer.

They were going to be in this quadrant for a while –after almost 2 years she had to admit that much- and while they were here they had to continue their mission of exploration. In a way they'd done so from the beginning, but right after their arrival in the Delta quadrant their first priorities had been repairs, energy reserves, and supplies. Although she had prepared for a long journey, she knew that deep inside she'd made herself believe they'd find a shortcut, and they'd be home in a few months, a year, a year and a half... But it became harder and harder to believe they would be home soon, and more permanent measures had to be taken. Not only to survive for the day of tomorrow, but also to make life on board Voyager more suitable for the long-term assignment this had turned into.

"So I think we should set up a full-fledged Science department," Janeway told her senior officers at that afternoon's briefing. "I am taking suggestions for a Chief Science officer."

"Leena."

Janeway looked at Torres in surprise. Six months ago, her Chief Engineer had exploded when the Cardassian had been assigned to her department, and now she was suggesting her for a senior staff position? Obviously, Janeway thought, she had been too busy to keep up with what went on in the crew.

"Leena?" she echoed.

Torres nodded. "She's been working hard in Engineering, but it isn't her department. Science is. And she's the only one on board who is working far below her former station and her capabilities."

Chakotay shook his head. "I don't think that is a good idea."

B'Elanna looked at him. She had seen the way Chakotay looked at Leena, whether it was in Engineering, at Sandrine's, or in the mess hall. She also probably knew more about his reasons to dislike Cardassians than anyone else on the ship. She'd been there when he and Seska had been lovers, back in the Alpha Quadrant. And then to find out she was a Cardassian spy... B'Elanna could understand it took him more time than anyone else on the ship to be able to trust a Cardassian again. Still, she felt like Leena was the right person for this position. The woman had been working hard to prove herself to the Voyager crew. She herself had been given that opportunity when she was made Chief Engineer over Carey, at the beginning of their journey. Now, Leena deserved the same chance.

"Because she is a Cardassian?" she asked him.

"That isn't the point," Chakotay answered immediately.

*But it is* he knew. He didn't like to admit it, even to himself, but he just couldn't make himself trust a Cardassian. Especially a Cardassian woman. He'd fought the Cardassians with the Maquis, after his father had been killed in a Cardassian raid, but that had been war -he had killed Cardassians when he'd blown one of their ships out of the sky. What Seska had done to him was far more personal.

When Leena had come on board, he'd tried to avoid her as much as possible. He had known Torres would keep an eye on her, and he'd half-way expected things would not work out, that she would not stay on the ship. He did not like feeling so biased about anyone, but every time he saw the Cardassian he saw Seska. So he had avoided her.

At first it had been easy, as Leena had not made many friends yet and didn't spend much time in the common areas, off duty. She had spent a lot of time in Sickbay, socializing with the Doctor and Kes. After several weeks, she'd started to come to Sandrine's with some others from the Engineering crew. Still, the junior officers didn't often mix with the senior officers, even at Sandrine's, and she did not play pool. After she and Kes had arranged for the Doctor to come to Sandrine's, a few weeks ago, and they'd mixed in with the bridge crew more often, he knew the distance he kept of the Cardassian had become obvious. Some day, he would have to face it and start to heal the wounds Seska had left him with. But as long as he didn't have to work closely with Leena, he could put that off.

"Then who do you suggest?" Janeway asked him.

"There are several good people in the Science department. Jenny Delaney," Chakotay answered.

Janeway studied her First Officer. While Jenny Delaney was a good officer, she was young and relatively inexperienced. Under normal circumstances, she would not be up for promotion for at least another year. Although Janeway didn't know all of the details about Chakotay's relation with Seska, she knew enough to guess what the problem was. She was not going to press him here, though, with the other officers present.

"I will be taking suggestions, and I will give all applications for the job full consideration. Dismissed," she said.

"Commander, could you stay for a minute?" she added, as Chakotay moved toward the door.

*I wonder why I bothered getting up* he thought. He'd known this was coming since he could not come up with a better suggestion than Jenny Delaney. He turned and sat back down again.

Janeway waited for the door to close behind the other officers before she spoke. She picked her words carefully.

"I know only a part of what happened between you and Seska. I do know she hurt you on a much more personal level than anyone else on the ship. But Leena is not Seska, and you're going to have to face her sooner or later." She put a hand on his arm. "If you want to talk about it..."

"No." He pulled back.

Janeway started at the anger in his voice. She had seen his anger and hurt before, but then the wounds had been fresh. She felt saddened at how raw those wounds still were, months later.

He saw the sadness in her eyes. He knew that she was trying to help him, not just because she needed her crew to work together, but also because she wanted to help him.

*Then why does it only make me feel more angry?* he wondered.

Janeway sighed. She did not like what she was going to say. But she had to keep the ship running, and she could only give so much room to problems of a personal nature.

"I understand your anger. But I can not let it interfere with the ship's operations. I suggest you work with Leena, take her on the next away mission. See if she really is as good as B'Elanna says she is."

"Is that an order?" Chakotay asked.

"If I have to make it one, yes," Janeway said. She was quite definite about it, but she kept her voice low.

Chakotay nodded. "Okay. Is that all?"

Janeway knew it would do no good to press her First Officer further, at this time. She nodded. "Dismissed."

As Chakotay left, she went over to the replicator. *I wonder how many replicator rations it's going to take before this is resolved* she thought as she asked the computer for a cup of coffee.