Disclaimer: Paramount owns the universe and all the regular characters, Leena, Radek and these specific events are mine.
3. On Voyager
Janeway had sent Tuvok out to meet them. She herself had to brief Chakotay on the arrival of the Cardassians.
She hadn't expected Chakotay to be happy about it, but 'not happy' was somewhat of an understatement. He was livid.
"You invited a bunch of Cardassians onto the ship?" he snapped.
Janeway tried to calm him. "Two Cardassians. That's hardly an army."
"Last time we had only one Cardassian on board, and see where that got us," Chakotay retorted.
Janeway was shocked at the level of bitterness in his voice.
*I wonder how deeply he was involved with her. There's so much I still don't know about him.* She knew Seska had been obsessed with him, that had been all too clear the last time they'd run into the Cardassian, but she knew little about how Chakotay had once thought of Seska. He avoided the subject whenever possible, and when not, told as little as he could. But the Cardassians would be in the shuttlebay, by now, and frankly, she couldn't avoid everyone from any race members of her crew had less pleasant experiences with.
Janeway told him so, and Chakotay sighed.
"I guess you're right, but I don't have to like it. Did you tell them you had Maquis among your crew?"
"Former Maquis." Janeway corrected him. "And no, I didn't."
"Right. Former Maquis. But I doubt the Cardassians see the distinction." Chakotay said. "If you're hoping to get any information from them, we might want to avoid the issue."
"I'm not sure we can, but I agree it's probably best not to bring it up right away." Janeway agreed.
Chakotay turned toward the door. "Well, let's get this over with."
They went over to the conference room in an uncomfortable silence.
Tuvok, meanwhile, had welcomed the Cardassians on board. The first to step out onto the deck was the male. -Glinn Radek, he recalled. The female, who had not yet given her name, came right behind him.
Tuvok nodded a greeting and introduced himself. "I am Tuvok, Chief of Security. The Captain has asked me to escort you to the conference room."
Radek knew enough about Vulcans not to offer his hand, as was custom on most Federation worlds, so he inclined his head, as well.
"Glinn Radek. This here is tenec Leena," he indicated the female.
Leena had turned around to engage some kind of security lock on the shuttle. *Not that they haven't scanned every bit of it, but that's no reason to let them crawl around inside.* she thought. She turned at the mention of her name, and nodded a greeting as well.
Radek, never one for time consuming niceties, said, "Lead the way."
Tuvok, of course, showed no reaction. He simply said, "Follow me," turning and walking toward the turbolift.
On the way to the conference room, they kept the conversation carefully neutral, talking about the curiously empty stretch of space they were in -the space-going equivalent of chatting about the weather. The Cardassians did keep their eyes wide open, though.
Leena was surprised to note several non-humans on the ship. In the short stretch of corridor between the turbo lift and the conference room they met two Bajorans and a short, alien man -was that a Talaxian? On a Federation ship? Of course she knew the Federation encompassed many races, but it'd always seemed like a human-run group, over all. *Then again, how much do we really know about them*, she wondered.
They came to a door and Tuvok led them into the conference room. Leena recognised the Captain, but she had not yet seen the man who was seated next to Janeway. She noticed Radek staring at him, though.
Tuvok made formal introductions, and as he named the man as Chakotay, Voyager's First Officer, Radek squinted, as if trying to remember something. Obviously, he didn't know what it was, and they sat down.
Janeway had decided to keep this first meeting with her First Officer and Tuvok only. She had noticed how Chakotay had tensed up when the Cardassians entered, and knew it was going to be hard enough to keep this civil without complicating matters by having B'Elanna sit in, too. As she noticed the stiff politeness in the Cardassian Glinn, she was glad she had done so. She could brief the other senior staff later, she was going to have to walk a fine line if she were going to learn anything from their guests.
As soon as formal introductions were made, she suggested they would both tell about their journey, and how they got here, suggesting the Cardassians started off.
Although Radek had preferred to hear more from the Federation Captain, first, he knew quite well whose ship they were on. Leena had been right, they were in no position to make demands, but that didn't make him feel any better about it. He started their story.