As always, Star Trek and its characters belong to Paramount, I just write about them. :)
Chapter 2
Leena pulled a last brush through her hair, and shrugged her shoulders. These dress uniforms had to be the most uncomfortable thing Starfleet could come up with. Funny, if she really thought about it, they were still a lot more comfortable than the Cardassian uniform she'd worn once. But that was a long time ago -24 years, just about.
"Are you almost ready?" Dr. Patrick Zimmerman called her from the living room. Leena picked a stray hair off her sleeve and appeared from the bathroom.
"Ah, there you are. It is time to go to the transporter room, the officers from the Harrier will be here any minute."
"That's easy for you to say. You only need one second to change. You should try getting into one of these" -she shrugged her shoulders at the coarse material- "the regular way, for a change."
Although the dress uniform did not feel any different to him, the Doctor had heard the same thing every time they'd worn dress uniforms, from just about everyone on the ship.
"Thanks, but I'll take your word for it."
They walked out into the corridor. Although the ship looked the same it always had, somehow it seemed to buzz with activity. Everyone just stepped that much faster, lighter, more excited. Leena and Patrick felt themselves swept along in the excitement, although neither one of them had ever had their home in the Federation.
As they approached the transporter room, they were met by Harry and B'Elanna. Tuvok, the Captain and Chakotay were already inside.
Tom Paris appeared a moment later, and with him Samantha. Samantha had been the first one to give birth on the ship, to a child of her husband left on Deep Space Nine. At first, she'd seemed to do well in spite of being stranded out in the Delta Quadrant. She had missed her husband like any one of them who had left a loved one behind, but if anything, her baby seemed to help her making a home on Voyager. Then, a year and a half later, when in quick succession both Harry & B'Elanna's and Neelix & Kes' kids had been born, and more new families started to form on the ship, she had broken down. Tom Paris, out of all people, had been there to pick her up.
Neelix would be working on dinner. He'd declined the invitation to join them as one of the senior personnel, saying he couldn't possibly get dinner served if he had to welcome the guests on board right before. He had never started a new relation after Kes died. Federation technology, the Doctor, and she herself –she'd become as good a doctor as any normal humanoid could wish to be- had managed to stretch her life from the nine years people on her home world had lived, to a full 13, but in the end she'd been the first and only one on Voyager to die of old age. Their son and daughter, twins, aged rather more rapidly than any of the other children born on Voyager, appearing to be in their mid-thirties instead of barely twenty-three, but their mixed heritage had slowed their ageing considerably.
The air of excitement was felt here, as well, but was dampened rather heavily by the apprehension felt on the bridge when the warship had shown on the viewscreen. When everyone was present, Janeway gave the command for transport.
A group of five men appeared. Captain Parker stood in mid center, a stern, middle-aged man, but with an air of calmth over him. He stepped down from the console and quickly introduced his officers.
"Commander Simon Vasquez, my first officer."
A young, brazen man with a touch of arrogance in his manner inclined his head.
"Lieutenant Burt Randall, Chief of Security."
A big man with close-cropped, dark hair and a wide smile on his face stepped forward. The smile didn't reach his eyes, though. As he greeted Captain Janeway, she was well aware he kept glaring at Leena from the corner of his eyes. He also glanced at the other Voyager officers, trying not to be too obvious about it, but there was no one who failed to notice.
*Who or what do they think we are?* Janeway thought, as she observed the way the lieutenant surreptitiously placed himself in front of his Captain. It wasn't an overtly strong precaution on a strange ship, but they were both supposed to be Starfleet ships, here, weren't they?
"Commander Dret Sevvel," Parker indicated a tall, thin man on his left, "Chief Medical Officer, and Lieutenant Sjon VanBilt, my helmsman."
A young man with brown eyes stepped forward, the only one who seemed sincere in his greetings. *No, Captain Parker is also sincere in his welcome,* Janeway thought. *He's just very reserved. But the others...*
She introduced her crew to the Harrier officers in turn. Starting with Chakotay, she felt the Harrier people stiffen slightly as she named him as Commander and her First Officer. Although the Harrier officers were most certainly briefed on her staff by Starfleet, they obviously weren't happy with it.
She went on to introduce Tuvok, and Harry, who were greeted politely, but tension went up another notch as she introduced B'Elanna. B'Elanna hadn't been on the bridge when they had first made contact, and Janeway could see the short glances Randall and Vasquez exchanged. *They're still thinking of them as Maquis*
As she introduced Paris, the look on Vasquez's face suddenly took her back to that time so long ago, when Paris had come on board. Her First Officer at the time, Cavitt, had looked at him that way. As if he had some kind of disease and had walked onto the bridge by accident, and should be taken off before he contaminated anyone.
Samantha, not a department head herself, received polite greetings, while the Harrier officers still glanced at Tom Paris.
She named Leena next, and this time Sevvel did not bother to hide his disdain, either. Still, none of the Harrier officers spoke a word apart from some mumbled 'pleasure' and similar niceties.
Finally, she introduced her Chief Medical Officer. "Commander Patrick Zimmerman, my CMO."
Sevvel looked again, then blinked. "That is an Emergency Holographic Medical Program," he said, turning back to the others.
Vasquez immediately turned to Janeway. "You introduce your EMHP to us as your CMO? Is this a joke?" Tension went up yet another notch. Parker threw a quick glance at his First Officer, as if to stop him, but he did not say anything. The Voyager crew held their breath.
Janeway looked Vasquez straight into the eye. "He has been my Chief Medical Officer for the past 26 years. He's a valued member of my crew and you will treat him as such."
Vasquez almost looked as if to reply, but Parker put out his hand to stop him. It was quiet for a moment. Chakotay broke the silence.
"Well. Shall we proceed to dinner?"
The Captain and Commander led the way, followed by the Harrier officers. B'Elanna, Harry, Patrick and Leena walked behind. They dropped back a little.
"So much for a warm welcome," Harry said.
"Hm. Did you notice his whole senior staff is human?" B'Elanna asked.
"Almost his whole crew is human. There are two Vulcans and a Bolian on his manifest, none of which has officer rank." They hadn't noticed Tuvok fall back to join their little group, but they were used to the Vulcan's quiet ways.
"You checked their crew manifest?" B'Elanna asked.
"It is not classified information. It might help us understand what has occurred in this quadrant." the Vulcan noted.
"It is unusual for a Federation ship to have members from only one race aboard, but not unheard of," the Doctor said. "It could be a coincidence."
"Maybe. But put it together with everything else we've been seeing, I think Starfleet has changed some of its ways. And not in a way I like," B'Elanna put in.
They came to the holodeck. They had set up the table there, so the Doctor could join in the dining as well. Neelix was just putting the last touches to the table, too busy to notice the way Vasquez wiped his hand after shaking Neelix's. Parker noticed, and gave his First Officer another stern glance.
Everyone took their places, the crews mixing up. Janeway sat at one end of the table, with Chakotay to her right and Parker on her left. Vasquez took the chair next to Chakotay, as it was usual for visiting crew to sit next to their counterparts. He seemed relieved when Tuvok took the next chair. Randall sat beside Tuvok. B'Elanna and Harry sat down together, as there were more Voyager officers present than there were visitors. Sevvel came next. Doctor Zimmerman sat down next to the Harrier's CMO, and Leena sat down beside him. She saw with some relief Lieutenant VanBilt sitting next to her -definitely the most pleasant of the Harrier crew. Paris took the next seat over, with Samantha completing the circle, sitting next to Parker.
Neelix brought in the first course immediately, for which Janeway was grateful. *Maybe once we're eatingr, tension will ease up a little.*
She thought the seating was arranged pretty well, at least, under the circumstances. Still, everyone kept the conversation carefully neutral. No one discussed the war or the political situation.
Tuvok tried to query Randall several times, but received no usefull information whatsoever. Any question he asked was returned, avoided, answered in such vague wording that the answer was worthless, or just plainly ignored.
Vasquez spoke with Chakotay, but although he made a half-hearted attempt to seem polite, he was curt and brusque. Chakotay had to work hard to keep his patience with the man. He concentrated on his training to remain calm, and kept the subject neutral, engaging in small-talk. There was no way Vasquez was going to tell him anything useful, and it would do no good to light the fuse any further. He glanced at Janeway and Tuvok and hoped they were doing better.
Janeway was talking with Parker, who seemed reasonably pleasant. But it didn't take her long to find out he was not going to tell her anything they didn't already know, either. Every time she asked a question, either straight out or surrepteously, he carefully avoided it. He tried to be pleasant about it, showing great interest in her journey through the Delta quadrant, but he never slipped the least bit of information through in what he said.
When the first course was served, Sevvel had not known what to do. Normally, he would first have spoken to the CMO of the other ship. But this was a hologram sitting next to him. He started eating his soup. As the others paired off in conversation, their part of the table ate in silence. After a long moment he turned to B'Elanna.
"So that's really your CMO?"
B'Elanna turned toward him. Even though many visitors asked the same question, -heck, it'd taken most of them a while to get used to him- the Voyager crew was so used to Doctor Zimmerman that it was always surprising how difficult it was for others accept him.
She simply answered, "Yes."
"And you have installed holo projectors all over the ship, so it can get around?"
B'Elanna's eyes flashed at the word 'it'. Although the projectors themselves had of course been the work of her and her staff, she answered curtly, "Ask him. He's sitting next to you."
Sevvel turned toward Doctor Zimmerman, and after a barely noticeable pause, repeated his question. The Doctor, also long used to the way new people reacted to him, answered as if the question had been directed to him in the first place. *But somehow it still hurts. And not everyone reacts that way. Kes hadn't, and neither had Leena.*
Out loud, however, he said, "Yes. I use a portable holo projector to get around off the ship, but on the ship itself I can go everywhere."
Sevvel felt his interest rise as Zimmerman answered his question in a normal, humanoid, manner. He asked a question about the Delta quadrant, and soon they were involved in conversation. Sevvel briefly thought, *I am talking to a hologram* when they were interrupted for next course to be served, but there was so much to tell and hear about. Neither Captain had had any objection to share purely medical information, so the two Chief Medical Officers were the only ones actually getting something of value out of their conversation.
Leena and Paris both talked to VanBilt. He was chatting pleasantly, although he, too, was on his guard not to give out any real information. Paris tried to trick him, leading the conversation slowly, or suddenly jumping in a question, but VanBilt paid too much attention to fall for that. He brought the subject back to Voyager.
"I saw several younger crew members aboard. Did you guys really start families here?"
Paris shrugged. "We were underway for 26 years."
"Do you have any kids?" VanBilt asked.
Glad to have something they could talk about, Tom and Samantha told him about the son they now raised together.
VanBilt turned to Leena. "And how 'bout you? You're the only Cardassian here."
Leena nodded. "Yes, but I did get married. We've got a lot of mixed couples on board."
"Kids?" the Harrier helmsman asked.
Leena smiled. "No. That would never work."
VanBilt asked, "Can't something been done genetically? That Doctor of yours should be able to come up with something."
Paris took another bite of his Derwa pasta, keeping a straight face as Leena answered, "He's my husband."
VanBilt's jaw dropped. "You're married to a hologram?"
"Have been for ten years," Leena said. She had to laugh –she knew this officer was just surprised, she did not notice the same hostility in him she'd noticed in the First Officer or the Security Chief.
"A Cardassian, married to a holographic Doctor, on the senior staff of a Federation Starship. Now I've seen it all."
After dinner, Captain Janeway met with Parker in her readyroom. After another ten minutes of non-information, Janeway had had enough.
"You're not going to tell me anything usefull, are you?" she asked.
Parker hesitated. "You can understand, in the light of the situation..."
Janeway took a deep breath. "No, I can not. Since no one has been telling us about 'the situation', I can not understand 'in the light of the situation.'"
It was Parker's turn to sigh. "You're right. I am sorry, but I can't give you any information. Starfleet Command has instructed me to escort you to Earth, they will fill you in on what's been happening here."
"This escort, it's not the Cardassians they are afraid of. They don't trust my crew."
"You have quite a lot of non-Federation personnel aboard, even among your senior staff. In these times, that makes some people nervous."
Janeway nodded. "Like your First Officer and Security Chief, for example. How wide-spread has this become?"
"I can not tell you that, either," Parker answered. But his eyes and his voice were sad, and told Janeway more than anything else he'd said that night.
Both knew further talk would be of little use. Captain Parker beamed back to his ship, following the rest of his staff, who had left right after dinner.