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The Beginning of Seska.
"Hello, Seska," Chakotay greeted her as he sat down at the table she was sharing with B'Elanna. "B'Elanna," he added when glanced over at the half Klingon engineer.
Both women were not surprised Chakotay was coming to speak to them, though they both knew it wouldn't be good. After Janeway, a personal meeting with Chakotay was inevitable. Both B'Elanna and Seska had been engineers on the old Maquis ship, so Chakotay was taking responsibility for what his crew had done. While Seska was a little bit curious behind Chakotay's reason for greeting her first instead of B'Elanna, she didn't let it worry her that much.
She no longer cared.
The undercover Cardassian agent didn't want to really spend time with her 'friend' but for appearance sake since the story of what had happened with the trajector had gotten out already thanks to the rumour mill - a warp core breach was not something the crew could just ignore - and sooner or later tongues would wag, Seska needed to still keep pretending to be B'Elanna's friend even if she felt nothing but contempt for the other woman who was only strong because she lashed out at the universe in general because of her boring childhood and the prejudices she'd received just because she had Klingon DNA mixed with her human DNA, something Seska had always found disgusting since it diluted the purity of a species, instead of just being strong because of her wits and capabilities.
Seska exchanged a look with B'Elanna. Both of them knew they weren't going to like this conversation. Chakotay may have been a mild-mannered man when he was calm, but when he was angry or annoyed or just disappointed, there were clear signs. Many of the Starfleet crew were still learning how to take their new first officer's moods, but Seska and B'Elanna, and the rest of the Maquis crew members were more than able to tell what Chakotay was thinking.
Chakotay was angry. They could both see it in his eyes. Out of the corner of her own eyes, Seska could see B'Elanna instantly react. Instead of gearing herself ready to lash out like she would have done in the past, matching Chakotay word for word in anger while she made excuses to explain her actions, she did the opposite. B'Elanna's back stiffened and she tensed, but beyond that, there was no expression in her face except for guilt and disappointment Seska could see radiating from her expression in waves that things had spiralled out of control.
As an operative in the Obsidian Order, it had taken Seska a long time to learn the intricacies in body-language and expression. It was a requirement for all operatives to learn so then they could be trained to see if someone was telling the truth, or hiding something that an interrogator could latch onto. When he had reigned supreme as the longest-serving head of the Order, Enabrain Tain had pushed the boundaries of the requirements to ensure the agency had the best operatives who were capable of not only capable of hiding the truth and the story from their faces, but being able to actually read the story from those who they were ordered to spy on.
Seska had learnt a long time ago how to school her expressions. It had helped her break into places during her early years as an operative working in the field, to an assassin who used her skills to get in and out while merging with the crowd, and it had helped her easily with integrating with the Maquis and the crew of Voyager.
Usually, Seska masked her features behind a carefree, happy mask, but not today. No, today she was going to show Chakotay she felt no regrets. She no longer cared.
"Commander," B'Elanna greeted quietly, making Seska sneer mentally. She even sounded like a Starfleet officer. So much for being a Maquis, though she sneered at that as well. She wanted to yell at the universe in general for her people to acquire technology to match the Federation fleets and take in the DMZ, and a little bit beyond. The Federation believed everything was solvable with a treaty, but they were weak.
The Maquis were just as weak.
Seska had no doubt in her mind the Maquis would be wiped out sooner or later. But at this rate, she doubted she'd see it. It would be great to dance on their graves.
But while Seska hated the Maquis, she hated just how insidious the Federation was. Not only had their values re-penetrated the minds of the Maquis crew on Voyager, but it had turned Chakotay and B'Elanna into nothing more than Borg Drones. They just did their jobs like good puppets.
Chakotay ignored the greeting. Seska didn't even flinch, she had known the moment the human sat down this was not going to be good. The Cardassian spy kept silent, waiting for an opportunity.
"I heard a very disturbing story last night, from the Captain," Chakotay said quietly, not wanting the others in the mess hall to hear what he was about to say, though Seska knew it could very easily deteriorate into shouting. At the mention of the Captain, B'Elanna flinched openly, making Seska sneer even more. For someone who had professed to loathe Starfleet, B'Elanna was doing a good job of proving what a hypocrite she was.
"Do you want to hear what I heard?" Chakotay asked pleasantly, though his eyes were like disruptors as they blasted his anger right at them. Both Seska and B'Elanna and the other Maquis were more than familiar with Chakotay's tendencies to know he would be rhetorical at first and then he would lash out. Neither woman spoke. They just wanted this over and done with, though for different reasons.
"I heard that you two, and Tuvok surprisingly enough, decided to go behind our backs to steal Sikarian spatial folding technology to shorten our trip home," Chakotay went on, his eyes increasing their intensity as he ground his teeth together furiously but Seska had been around Chakotay long enough to know he was embarrassed and disappointed by what they had done.
B'Elanna nodded. "We know," she said lamely. "It was stupid-," she began but he interrupted her swiftly with a speed of a Kohn-Ma assassin.
"No, it wasn't just stupid, B'Elanna. I have enough problems as it is trying to maintain the peace on this ship between the two crews as it is. I didn't need to hear this on top of everything else," Chakotay snapped, but he was somehow able to keep his cool. Seska honestly had no idea how he managed it, she really didn't. When she lost her own temper, she would lash out. So did the other two people at the table, though B'Elanna was more volatile than she was. While Chakotay could fly into rages, he usually controlled his temper. Even now he was doing it.
Chakotay looked down as he clearly struggled with the effort to not lash out at the two women sitting opposite him - Seska wished he would just let go, just get it over with, but he was now as bound as the others with those foolish Starfleet rules of conduct to actually do it.
"I can understand you two," he said, "I really can. While I don't understand Tuvok's motives and I don't really want to, I understand why you did it. I just wish you hadn't-…"
Inwardly angry that the arrogant Vulcan had been dragged into this, Seska was tempted to interrupt at that point. She already had a biting reply in mind, it would have gone something like "Hadn't what, Chakotay? Tried to get us home? Isn't that what we're striving to do, instead we're locked down by Starfleet procedures and Starfleet rules, and Starfleet's precious Prime Directive! Big deal. Who cares? So we stole technology, so what? We took a gamble, and it didn't work."
Meanwhile, Chakotay was hating this whole mess. If he was honest with himself, he wasn't one hundred per cent surprised by what had happened with this little cabal. The idea of folding-space in on itself to cross vast distances was compelling enough in the Alpha Quadrant since it could mean they could cross distances similar to the legendary Iconians, but out here their situation was radically different.
Such a technology with the promise to shorten their trip home by thousands of light-years would be a godsend to them all. 40,000 light years closer to home, 30,000 slashed off of the 70,000 would be a boon to them all. But it hadn't worked. The warp core had nearly collapsed on them, and the black market deal had been revealed.
Chakotay had already had a gut full of this thanks to Janeway which was bad enough, but truthfully he couldn't let this go. He just wanted to remind his two friends, one of whom who happened to be his girlfriend and occasional lover though they hadn't really indulged since he didn't want the crew to talk. It was bad enough Tuvok was occasionally telling him as the first officer he had to present an example to the rest of the crew, blissfully forgetting relationships flourished on a starship. Just because the Vulcan was happily married didn't mean the rest of the crew had to be reduced to the level of a eunuch.
Frustrated, Chakotay ground out, "Don't ever do this again behind my back."
Personally, and he wasn't going to admit it, not even to any of his old friends in the Maquis, he was actually proud they had taken the initiative to try to either shorten their long journey home while Janeway was content with playing the holier than thou Starfleet officer. Chakotay resented being her token Maquis officer, resented how he had to play the game but he knew organising a mutiny would not work. For one Tuvok and Janeway did not live in a bubble, much, even though the pair of them wanted to shove Starfleet rules and regulations down his throat after they had gladly handed over their own colonies over to the Cardies, and didn't lift a finger when hundreds of people were slaughtered or raped by the Cardassians simply because they could.
With that, he stood up and left. Seska seethed with anger as he walked away, positive that he was only lashing out because of Janeway. No matter, she thought to herself.
Shortly after Chakotay had left, they were swiftly joined by Paris and Kim. The sight of them together mentally exhausted Seska, who was already drinking twice as much coffee since she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. She mentally prayed for silence from the pair of them. She wasn't in the mood for them today, but she knew better than do anything stupid which might cause her problems in the long run.
But if she heard one more sob story about missing Earth….
Paris settled his tray on the table and Kim followed suit, both of them grim-faced. "We heard what happened," Paris whispered.
"Yeah, we were so close as well," Kim muttered, looking depressed that this once opportunity that could have shortened their journey could have worked if certain facts had come out.
B'Elanna sighed. "I know, but we couldn't have anticipated those anti-neutrinos…"
"You should have done!" Kim snapped, his already narrow almond shaped eyes slit-like with fury.
"Harry!" Paris immediately chided his friend, but Kim was on a roll.
"No, Tom," Kim snapped, "you should have done your research. Instead of going through proper channels-,"
"Oh please," Seska sneered, unable to let that go, annoyed with the arrogance. "Like that would have worked. We were approached by a black market dealer willing to work with us for his own prestige. Between an official leader who genuinely didn't care whether we were forty-thousand light years closer to home, and played with us and dangled the chance on a hook, and someone willing to break those laws and give us the technology, we should have gone through the one willing to break the rules. History is full of people who've broken the rules. What does it matter?"
"It matters," Kim snapped.
"Why?" Seska challenged, her eyes spitting fire. She had the suspicion Kim was only angry because it didn't work. "Besides, Tuvok was the one to get the technology in the first place. Or are you just annoyed we went behind the Captains' back?"
With each word, Kim recoiled but Seska did not raise her voice, not once. She was not only too tired to truly lash out like she was prone to do on many occasions. "We could have been home if we had gotten more information about the space-folding process instead of just a piece of technology, but instead of going behind the magistrate's back, Janeway was more interested in her libido!"
Silence reigned supreme at the table. No-one dared to breathe. Seska could see the astonishment on Kim and Paris' faces, while out of the corner of her eye she could see B'Elanna's own surprise and worry. That made her angry, she didn't want anyone to be worried about her.
Seska realised she was going too far. In order to cover her tracks, she lowered her voice and schooled her features to appear calmer, and more forgiving even though she felt physically unwell about doing that. "I'm sorry, Harry," she said, "but we had to get hold of the space-folding matrix by any means necessary, and if we had to play hard and dirty to get it, so what?"
She had to get out of here. She not only had a long hard day's slog down in the engine room, but she also needed to mentally prepare herself for the onslaught she could tell was coming from B'Elanna. She could see the half Klingon engineer's expression and knew she would need to prepare for it.
She took another, long gulp of her coffee, already feeling the caffeine do its work, and she stood up but Tom Paris stopped her. "For what it's worth," he said quietly, "I think you did the right thing, getting that spatial matrix. I learned a long time ago rules are suggestions."
Seska studied him closely. She had never really liked Tom Paris in all the time she'd known him. Chakotay had joined the Maquis and rose to become one of the more important leaders which made it logical for the Obsidian Order to send her out to spy on him and then lead him into a trap so then they would be able to base many of their strategies for the final destruction of the terrorist organisation easier, but Chakotay's reasons were honest. Paris was someone who'd been thrown out of Starfleet and had nowhere else to go, and yet she knew he was telling the truth.
Not trusting herself, she nodded and left the mess hall.
B'Elanna's onslaught began when the chief engineer told her she needed help with work in the Jeffries tube. Seska followed her, just wanting the whole mess to end so she could get some work done. Seska followed her 'friend' though in the next few minutes she might need to reassess her friendships on this ship, her eyes seeing how clearly angry the other woman was.
When they reached a junction, B'Elanna turned around and glared at Seska freely now the pair of them were on their own. "What the hell were you thinking, arguing with Harry in the mess hall?" she demanded.
Seska raised an eyebrow, deciding to let B'Elanna rant at her for a moment while she formulated her reply.
Visibly annoyed she wasn't getting a response, B'Elanna went on. "Look, I know you wanted to get back to your brother, Seska, but-," she snapped, but Seska decided to shut her up there and then.
"Ah, yes, my brother," she sneered, "I'll never see him now, will I?"
"And I'm sorry, but it wasn't my fault!"
"I know it wasn't, my problem is with Janeway and her principles!" Seska snapped, losing some of her composure whilst she tried to regain some measure of her control but after the night she'd had after discovering that program on the holodeck, she was too irritable to care but she still needed to keep her cool. She was too well trained to completely give the game away. "We're in the Delta Quadrant, nowhere near Starfleet Headquarters. There aren't any admirals puffed up with self-importance looking over her shoulder. She could have kept Gathtalking while we either studied the trajector matrix or sought out more aid to find out how it worked if she had taken those steps then perhaps we wouldn't have had a near core breach!"
B'Elanna was taken by surprise by Seska'a own onslaught, but the Cardassian could see clearly the other woman could tell she had a point.
"You're right, Seska. Captain Janeway had the chance to look beyond Starfleet principles, but you forget," B'Elanna stressed at that point and Seska knew she was not going to like what she was about to hear, not one little bit, "I'm the chief engineer now, a senior officer. I have to work with her now. I can't just ignore it."
"I know," Seska replied, hating herself for the need to be understanding. She did understand since her family had a long tradition in the Cardassian fleet though she didn't have the patience for complying with rules when there were dirtier ways of getting the job done. "But I am tired of playing by her rules-!"
"We will get home-,"
"When?" Seska countered angrily.
"We will," B'Elanna snapped, angry that she herself did not know the answer to Seska's counter question. But then again nobody onboard the ship could really answer it either.
"Okay," Seska decided to change her track though she remained fixed on the topic. "So if we come across a different type of faster than light propulsion, one that can slice our trip in half, and we are refused access to it, what then? Will we just shrug our shoulders and carry on with our trip the slow way when she could have either negotiated for it or stolen it?"
B'Elanna wasn't surprised by her last question. She knew Seska didn't particularly care about the boundaries. Theft of something she wanted was her style. "She won't do that."
"I know that," Seska replied.
She could see it on her 'friends' face clearly that the other woman had definitely changed because in the past, B'Elanna, and Chakotay for that matter, would not have cared much about the rules to get what they might need. Seska could see B'Elanna was now a brainwashed little puppet, and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Can we just forget this?" Seska pretended to plead, though truthfully she had no intention of forgetting this.
Fortunately for her, B'Elanna was okay with that. But as they left the Jeffries tubes, Seska was trying to figure out what she was going to do next. She decided that the best thing to do was to fall back on to the part of her Obsidian Order training where she would be expected to stay in the background and just observe the crew. It was the only sane thing she could do, and come up with a plan that could be beneficial in the future.
It wasn't as if she didn't have anything really pressing on her mind.
Everyone who worked in main engineering was always thankful when their shifts were over, so Seska didn't really need to hide her delight when she got off her shift and after a quick meal in the mess hall (once more being forced into eating another one of Neelix's over-spiced dishes which involved drinking copious amounts of water just to make it more palatable), Seska headed once more for the holodeck while clutching a padd in her hand.
As she approached the holodeck, Seska saw to her frustration someone was already inside. Biting down on her tongue to stop her temper from erupting, she checked the wall panel to see who was inside. It was the Delaney sisters, running one of their favourite programs.
Seska growled and walked off until she was in a side corridor, and headed away for another holodeck. The holodeck computers were all connected, so while it would have been a good idea to play the program she'd found last night in the same holodeck she'd found it in, she could access it anywhere in other holodecks.
After another trip in a turbo lift to a different deck, she approached the nearest holodeck. As she rounded the corridors, she tapped her comm badge (she hated the thing since it was the symbol of one of Cardassia's greatest enemies, treaty or not, but it was more versatile than the bracelets her fellow Cardassians wore in the military orders), "Computer, is anyone in this holodeck?"
"Negative."
Seska sighed with relief and she walked to the wall panel and after a few minutes of work she accessed the program, so when she walked through the door the program was already running. Although she wanted to find out who had written this program, Seska needed excitement, especially after those confrontations with Kim and B'Elanna. She understood their reasons for the arguments. Kim was lashing out because he was disappointed their attempt had not worked, but it warred with his precious Starfleet principles, and B'Elanna because she didn't want any more fights.
Seska could not believe it. After running the simulation a couple of times, enjoying every moment of having some real action though it was simulated and wasn't real, she had set the holodeck into a loop where the mutiny took place in the later stages so then the rather boring beginning did not occur. She used that period while the program was playing, showing different scenes of the holographic mutiny, particularly the parts she really enjoyed to get into the computer to find out who had written the program.
Seska was a skilful engineer and computer programmer, her skills honed by her years of experience in the Obsidian Order, where she had learnt a few tricks, especially when it came to holographic technology. She knew if she had tried to find out who had written the program when it was switched off the computer would make it harder for her to access, but with the computer running the simulation in a loop its processing power was concentrating on maintaining the scenario while it played out according to its programming.
At first, she didn't have much luck since the encryption was quite strong, which showed something about who'd written it in the first place, and she couldn't help but run down a potential list of suspects before she found out who it was and along the way she struck off the names.
It wasn't Janeway; she didn't have the guts to write something like this since she was so naive and foolish, believing in those stupid and wasteful Federation principles of hers.
Oh, Seska had no doubts the stupid bitch had plans in mind to stop her ship being taken by the Maquis. The only problem was Seska didn't know what those plans were.
It wasn't Chakotay either. For a man who was cunning and brilliant in certain fields, computer science was not one of them. He was a novice at this type of thing, and besides, if he was planning a mutiny against Janeway, he would have written something a bit more…versatile than what she had seen so far. Granted, at first, she had imagined that Chakotay had plans to write a holographic rehearsal of a real mutiny, which he'd planned to share with every member of the Maquis and any Starfleet officer who wanted to get home faster than they would with Janeway, since he would want it to go according to plan. But she quickly decided it wasn't him.
Chakotay would have written different variants of the program so the mutiny would have begun in any number of ways since his time in the Maquis would have taught him to come up with contingency plans since the terrorists had to rely on second-hand technology and needed to work with ships that were too small and not very powerful so they would need to play dirty. That kind of mindset was hard to get rid of. If Chakotay had written Insurrection Alpha then he wouldn't have relied on a starter being Janeway and Paris leaving on a first contact mission. No way. He would have come up with numerous starters, and besides, why would he not have carried on writing it? The title of the program was also a problem since he wouldn't have made it obvious.
It wasn't B'Elanna, Paris, or Kim. Oh, they could have written it, especially Kim and B'Elanna, though Tom Paris… it wasn't really his style, and besides, why would he write it in the first place?
But it wasn't until she recognised the security code that was embedded in the file it all fell into place.
Tuvok.
Now it made sense. As the chief of security, Tuvok must have worked out that the Maquis crew members invited by Janeway to board the ship and become part of the crew to increase their chances of getting home was dangerous, but his experience with the Maquis during his undercover mission which was radically similar and yet oh so different from her own since the Obsidian Order planned to torture the Maquis cell under Chakotay's command where the possibilities were virtually endless while the Federation would just lock them away as they'd done to Paris.
Insurrection Alpha…the clear disdain for Neelix, the awful way the beginning was written….. Now she knew who'd written the program and locked it away, Seska could now deduce what the program was. It was a training program for Tuvok's Starfleet security team since the Maquis members would tell Chakotay what Tuvok was doing, and cause problems for the Vulcan down the line. As an idea, she could see it working. The training program would make every member of Tuvok's security detail vigilant and alert, and train them for the possibility of a Maquis mutiny.
From a Vulcan point of view, it was logical to imagine a mutiny taking place, even she could appreciate the common sense. She never thought Tuvok would have it in him, and yet he was the same man who had gone behind Janeway's back and acquired a spatial matrix to get them 40,000 light years closer to home, and he was the same man who had lied to Chakotay's face. Anyone who was able to do that was worthy of some respect.
But why had he stopped writing it, and filed it away?
After a few minutes, Seska simply decided it made no difference, and she continued to study the program, using Tuvok's security code to cover her tracks though she doubted the Vulcan would really think anything was wrong if he ever decided to look for the program since he felt he'd deleted it.
Still, an evil idea came into her mind. Tuvok doesn't know I know about this, she thought to herself. That means I have plenty of time to work out what to do about this.
Grinning evilly as she pictured the possibilities of what this program and the information she'd just gleaned from it could do, Seska spent the next ten minutes painstakingly copying and pasting the coding network into the padd. She would study it later and take it from there.
Once she was finished, she filed the program away, knowing if Tuvok came back to it he wouldn't find any traces but she quickly checked the computer to make sure Tuvok hadn't left any traps like he had done with Sikaris when he had locked the transporters out. While she was surprised the Vulcan had it in him to be that cunning, she had to remind herself that no-one should be underestimated. One of the first rules Enabrain Tain had beaten into the minds of his operatives.
As she worked in main engineering a few days later following an extremely brutal Kazon attack on the ship. The Kazon had apparently been loitering outside Sikarian space, waiting for them to come out so they could attack. Seska ground her teeth together in anger, furious that once again Janeway was not bothering to get information from that useless Talaxian about the Kazon so this kind of thing wouldn't happen. Seska knew she was being harsh, but standing in main engineering while cleaning up the damage, her sleeves rolled up and revealing the white, pinkish skin underneath, Seska had to stop herself from losing it as Janeway made an announcement. She was not in the mood to listen to the fool, not today.
"Voyager is in bad shape. I know that, and you know that. But the main thing is we are still alive," Janeway was saying over the comm line while the repairs were taking place. Seska didn't see the point behind this little pep talk, in her mind it was completely unnecessary and useless. But she supposed Janeway felt the need to say all that, just to bring up the morale of the crew. "The Kazon came dangerously close to battering down our defences, and getting hold of our technology-,"
Seska ground her teeth even more as she stalked towards one of the workstations so then no-one would see her anger. Everybody on the ship knew the Kazon sects fought each other to the death, had little wars with one another when they sensed one of their rivals having different technology. She just wished Janeway didn't state the obvious every time.
"We will get home. We will not give anyone our technology, just to get ourselves back home. When we set this course back home, I made it clear this ship is a Starfleet ship with a Starfleet crew. We will not deal with the Kazon, who are a bunch of outlaws. We will get out of here alive. We are leaving the Kazon behind with every twelve light years we pass. We will reach Federation space…"
Seska tuned her out then. She was tired of Janeway constantly lecturing them about the Federation all the time, and how they would get back without having to do anything dirty. Why of all the Starfleet captains sent out to retrieve Tuvok, did it have to be this one? Seska was just tired and fed up with Janeway's almost religious view of the Federation's Prime Directive. Letting out a sigh, Seska got back to work around engineering, contemplating this problem.
In her view the Voyager crew would be lucky enough to even reach the Federation with the ships' hull intact, never mind all of them alive. Why was it difficult for Janeway and the others to see it made no difference if they followed the almighty Prime Directive or not? They were leaving this part of space, so why not ensure their own safety by giving the Kazon technology that would make them amicable instead of hostile? Couldn't Janeway see if she gave them replicators or transporter technology to a sect, they would gain more intelligence into Kazon politics than the secondhand nonsense Neelix provided, not to mention invaluable access to raw materials and protection?
And if the sects tore themselves apart after they were gone, what of it? It would take decades, if not centuries for Starfleet or one of the Alpha Quadrant powers to come out this far into the galaxy, and if they had to deal with the consequences, so what? Knowing Janeway, she would have everything she could have done logged away in Voyager's computer. Starfleet would probably punish her, or they would just accept what she had done simply because she had no choice, either way, it wasn't Seska's problem.
Thinking that…. Seska wondered as she worked if that was the reason why Janeway was determined not to play with the Prime Directive while they were out here, was she afraid of how people would see her?
Seska shrugged mentally, deciding it made no difference. But as she took a look around the engine room she groaned when she saw the state of it. Engineering always took a battering during a battle, but even she wondered how long it would be before B'Elanna could not do anything around here anymore.
And then, Seska's opportunistic found the answer.
If Janeway refused to do what was needed, she would.
She would give one of the Kazon sects technology.
Seska didn't doubt for a moment they would accept any deal, official or unofficial. They were hungry for power. They would accept anything from her and wouldn't really care about her motives. Just like she would not care at all about what the crew did if they found out what she was doing, and would definitely not care or give a thought about what the consequences could be.
Seska smiled. It felt as though her brain had been lit up and a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, even if she didn't have anything to do with the day to day running of Voyager. Still, she didn't care.
But then her euphoria wore off as she began thinking through her plan through the initial stages to the later ones. It would be easy in itself to transmit information to the Kazon tentatively, and when things between her and them were solidified by her giving them basic information to enhance their own technology, and when she heard the Kazon were pleased with what she'd done, she would suggest a face to face meeting with them in real life on a planet, and she would ensure a piece of Federation technology was given to them.
There was a downside to her plan. Someone discovering her actions or the Kazon doing something incredibly stupid that would make her discovery a likely possibility. Well, that wouldn't be a problem. She had programmed into the computer a number of shortcuts and backdoors, so if the crew discovered what she had done by allying herself with the Kazon, she would find it easy to get out and they wouldn't know about it until it was too late and she had programmed a number of blocks into the system to prevent her commands being overridden. And if the crew discovered her Cardassian nature, well again it wouldn't be a problem since she had never gone anywhere near sickbay where the Doctor could examine her long enough to tell her genetic structure was different from a Bajoran's own structure.
No matter what happened, Seska thought to herself, she would help the Kazon. She would ally herself to them, speaking for the Voyager crew, in order to find a practical ally, not a Talaxian idiot and a soft Ocampan girl who knew nothing about the reality of the universe - that the strong survived above all else - and they would protect the ship from the worst of what was out there, preferably without the knowledge of the crew.
It took a while for Seska to remember the program she'd found on the holodeck, the one Tuvok had written about a Maquis mutiny. Could she somehow integrate that program into her plans, or should she hack into it and leave it as an unpleasant surprise for a later time? She couldn't see a program like that factoring into a black ops deal between herself and the Kazon and one of the sects, but she could see the program being used for something further down the line if something happened to her.
It would be a nice little present for one of the crew if she did leave them if they discovered the truth about her.
Until the next time...