Disclaimer: Paramount owns the universe and all the regular characters, Leena, Radek and these specific events are mine.
7. A new chance.
"Now then," Janeway said. "You will need some quarters assigned to you, and I want you to report in with Sickbay and have the Doctor give you a complete physical. I'll have Ensign Kim show you the way."
Leena had to know. "I will understand if you drop me off at a space station or a planet. I don't have the shuttle or any other way to pay for passage."
Janeway looked at her. True, it was not going to be easy, with the Maquis, and several of her original crew were Bajorans, too. Add their experiences with Seska to that... But she was not going to drop anyone off, this far from home. She'd just have to find a way.
"I'll get you home. I promised that to my crew, I'll make the same promise to you," she told Leena.
And as she had made that decision, Janeway knew she'd better tell Leena about Seska, she'd hear it anyway. She also wanted to see Leena's reaction. She told Leena, "You might find not only the Maquis apprehensive about your arrival on Voyager. We had a couple of run-ins with a Cardassian recently."
"Here?" Leena asked, amazed.
"One of the Maquis turned out to be an Obsidian Order spy."
Leena made a face. "Believe me, Captain, I have no love for the Order. Hardly anyone does, in the Military, although you will not hear anyone say so in the Alpha Quadrant." She gave a wry smile. "They always say the Order is everywhere, but I had not expected to find them here."
Janeway saw and heard the distaste Leena had for the Order. It seemed sincere enough. Still, she was not going to put Leena in Sciences, with no full-time department head to watch her. She did not like being biased, but it was always hard to trust again after being betrayed.
"You will have to be a member of this crew. We are far from home, and may have years to go yet. That means everyone on board will have to work together. Everyone has to be a member of the crew, one, Starfleet crew."
Janeway stressed those last few words, and recalled the time, almost a year ago, when she'd said those words to her entire crew, setting off on this journey. They had managed quite well, but there had been problems and conflicts for quite some time.
"I understand," Leena said. Thinking about it, she had known this was the most sensible action to take, but she still was relieved to hear it. On a Cardassian ship, a single Federation member would never be allowed into the crew. Then, on a Cardassian ship, a Federation member would probably not have been let on board in the first place, here in the Delta quadrant, with no one to know if someone stayed behind. The Cardassians had no aid and rescue clause for non-Cardassians in their directive.
"I'll have to speak with my First Officer as to where to put you. In the mean time, we'll get your quarters and physical taken care of," Janeway told her. Then she called for Ensign Kim.
Harry Kim showed Leena the way to Sickbay. Kes was sitting at one of the consoles.
"Hi Kes. Is the Doctor on?" Kim asked.
*On?* Leena thought.
"He's in his office," Kes answered. She called, "Doctor?"
The Doctor appeared from the office. He showed his surprise when he saw Leena. "Well, how can I help you?"
"This is Leena." Kim introduced her. "She will be staying on board. The captain wants a full physical on her."
It's nice to see someone actually thought of that," the Doctor said. "But I must admit to some curiosity as to where you come from. Or did we get back to the Alpha Quadrant and did everyone forget to tell me?" He looked at Kim, who shook his head.
Leena observed this exchange. She didn't know how to interpret this exchange. "It's a long story. If you don't mind, I'll tell it some other time."
"Hm." The Doctor said. "Well, if you'd follow me," he gestured at one of the bio-beds. "Tricorder."
Kes handed him one. Leena thought hard. There had been intelligence reports on new Federation technologies... Suddenly it all clicked into place. She looked at the Doctor, surprise showing in her face.
"You are a hologram."
The Doctor, used to almost any reaction from strangers, didn't stop with what he was doing. He merely glanced up for a moment. "Yes. Does that bother you?"
Leena reflected. Since this morning, she had met more aliens than she'd met in a year back on Cardassia. So why not a hologram?
"Not particularly, no," she said. "But how did a hologram come to be Chief Medical Officer on a Starship?"
This time, the Doctor did pause briefly what he was doing. "It's a long story, as well. You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine."
Leena laughed. She found herself liking the brusque, no-nonsense manner of the Doctor. "It's a deal," she replied.
The Doctor completed her physical and checked the results.
"Hm. No illnesses or infections, but your physical condition could be better. You should take some time to exercise," he told her.
"I spent most of the last year on a shuttle craft. Not much room for exercise," Leena explained.
"On a shuttle craft. A year," the Doctor said. Leena nodded.
"Then, considering the circumstances, your condition is remarkable. Just be sure not to overdo it when you start exercising again." He handed the padd he had used to Kes. "Enter this in the crew files, please."
He turned back to Leena. "I'm done, you can go."
Leena jumped off the diagnostics bed. "Thanks, Doc."
With a mild surprise the Doctor said, "You're welcome."
Leena and Kim left sickbay. Harry had also been surprised with the exchange, and as he led the way through the corridors, he mentioned it. "It does not bother you our Doctor is a hologram?" he asked.
"Should it?" Leena asked.
"Most of us had some trouble accepting him at first. And from what I understood, Cardassians don't easily get along with others."
"Maybe, in this case, that's an advantage." And, as she saw Kim's questioning look, she added, "For me, everybody on this ship is an alien. All of you have others of your race, or at least of your Federation, on board. Everybody here is an alien, human or Bajoran, Federation or Maquis. Or hologram."
Kim agreed that made sense. They had arrived at the quarters assigned to her, so he showed her in and explained the basic shipboard procedures to her.
Janeway had called Chakotay into her ready room. When he'd taken a seat, she told him she'd given Leena permission to remain on board. "I have no idea of where to place her, but she will have to be a member of our crew."
Chakotay frowned. "Are you sure that is wise?"
Janeway shook her head. "No," she admitted. "But I don't see what else to do. I can't refuse her passage -we are a Starfleet ship and we have to render aid when asked to do so. We don't have enough resources to have non-contributing passengers aboard, and I can't hardly lock her up because someone else from her race was a spy."
Chakotay thought hard. He had an idea, but he knew someone wasn't going to be happy about it. *Oh well, _I_ am not happy about it, but it is the only thing I can think of.*
"Put her in Engineering."
Janeway stared at him, not sure she followed him.
"Engineering?"
Chakotay nodded. "If anyone can keep an eye on her, B'Elanna can."
It made sense. But Janeway wasn't convinced. "In Engineering, she'll get to know every detail about the workings of the ship."
Chakotay had considered that, too. "So does B'Elanna, and so do I. There was a treaty with the Cardassians when we left, there wasn't one with the Maquis."
"Al right," Janeway made the decision. "Who's gonna tell B'Elanna?"
Chakotay looked at her. "You're the Captain." He got up and exited onto the bridge.
"Oh, great," Janeway sighed. She tapped her badge to call B'Elanna to the ready room.
Janeway took a deep breath, then said, "Come." The door opened and B'Elanna Torres came in.
"Sit down." Janeway indicated the chair. Torres sat down, and Janeway went right ahead.
"Leena will be remaining on board."
Torres' face clouded, but Janeway did not leave her time for a reply. "I've decided to assign her to Engineering."
That got a reaction. Torres jumped up. "You assigned a Cardassian to work in my department?" she yelled.
Janeway let her vent her frustration, then calmly stated, "You know we can't have passengers on this trip. And I believe you have told me many times how short-handed we are."
Torres stalked through the ready room. "Then assign her some place else and transfer someone else to Engineering!"
Janeway put up a hand to quiet her. "Frankly, you are one of the few people on board I can trust to keep an eye on her. I don't want her on the bridge under Chakotay, and I can't hardly put her in Security, can I? That leaves you."
B'Elanna knew Janeway had made up her mind. She let out an explosive sigh. "Was that all?" she asked.
Janeway nodded. Then, as B'Elanna was about to storm out the door, Janeway called her back. "Oh, B'Elanna? Don't bother complaining to Chakotay. It was his idea."
B'Elanna paused for a second. *How'd she know that was where I was going?* She whirled and stalked out of the ready room.
Janeway watched her leave. She considered getting another cup of coffee. She'd had two already, and another one would mean she had no replicator rations left for the next two days. It'd been a long day. She almost got up to get it, then decided against it. If B'Elanna's reaction was any indication, she was going to need that coffee tomorrow when word had gotten around to the rest of the Maquis crew.
She called for Leena to come to her ready room. As the Cardassian came in, she motioned for her to sit.
"You asked to see me?" Leena said.
Janeway nodded. "I spoke with my First Officer. I have no position in your usual station or rank, but we have decided to assign you to Engineering." Janeway told her.
"Thank you, Captain." Leena said.
"Don't thank me yet. Not everyone on my crew will be happy with that decision. There's the Maquis, and I have several Bajorans among my original crew who have no love for Cardassians. You see us working together now, but it wasn't always easy at first, for the two crews to work together. And they had each other -you are alone."
"I understand." Leena said. The Doctor had seemed nice enough, and Ensign Kim had been friendly, as well, but she recalled the tension she had felt in the First Officer in the Conference room, and she'd seen a couple of crew members glance at her as she walked through the corridors on her way up here. Still, this was better than she'd dared to hope for this morning.
"I am grateful to be here, Captain. I will do my best to work with your crew."
Janeway smiled as she nodded. "I know you will." She started to feel more confident she could trust this Cardassian as she talked to her. Still, she knew there were many crew members with more past experiences with the Cardassians than she had. It would take time before Leena would be integrated into the crew, and not all of it would be easy. But they'd made it work before, they'd make it work this time, too.
She looked at Leena. "Will you get trouble with this when (*when, not if*) we get home?"
Leena looked back at her, somewhat puzzled. "You've taken the Maquis into your crew, and now me, and you're asking me if I am going to be in trouble?"
Janeway hesitated for a moment. Truth to tell, she didn't look forward to that part of her debriefing at Starfleet Command. But she answered lightly. "I had some pull at Starfleet Headquarters when I left. Not that they're going to be happy about it, but the Federation is pretty lenient. Much more so than the Cardassian Empire is said to be."
Leena took a moment, also. Then she said, "Well, let's just say it's a good thing we'll be back about 500 years before Radek."
They left it at that.
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A/N: 'tenec', pronounced TEN-nec (lieutenant) and Dessoh, pronounced des-SOH, (good-bye) I made up myself as I couldn't find any cannon words for them.
Names are pronounced LEE-na, ra-DEK, sta-VOS, ge-o-ri.