I think I figured out why Seska didn't come in from the cold.

[Guy Gardener]

The Federation and Cardassia were allies.

Her rank was tansferablish, which could have made the lady perhaps third officer if she wanted to push her luck.

And then as the only citizen of the Cardassian Union on Board, Seska could parley her bare existence into a civilian political rank, which means "Embassy" and Cardassian soil on Voyager.

Here's the Rub.

Seska wasn't the only Cardassian Citizen on board Voyager.

The Maquis, at least the Maquis who were farming when the borders shifted, were granted the protection of Cardassian citizenship when the Federation abandoned them.

In a free election...

Seska is going to lose.

She's going to lose and then become directly subordinate and supposedly loyal to Legate Chakotay.

if she stayed as a Bajoran Maquis, she had to pretend to be loyal to a flock of Earthlings, but if she sacked up and outted herself, well read above, so really, her only real choice was to run or seize the ship on her own merits as an individual.

Actually?

Couldn't Legate Chakotay pardon the Maquis for all crimes committed against Cardassian interests? Which means that Janeway wouldn't have the righteous impetus to hold the Maquis as prison labour anymore?

Clean slate.

 

[Timewalker]

A starship is not run by a "United Nations". Janeway is the Captain, so she's the boss. Period. Besides, Seska's nature was not that of a bureaucrat.

 

[Guy Gardener]

If Janeway was in the Federation, she would be told what to do by a lot of people almost everywhere she went.

She's the green Captain of a tiny starship who has to follow the rules which are complicated once you admit that Voyager is not just a starship but a federation colony which extends Janeway a mass of extra powers and responsibilities, which would be the same for any Captain in charge of a deepspace mission of exploration.

Besides it's not like a Starfleet Officer can forbid the politics of an alien race she has absolutely no more authority over than they allow her, any more than American soilders in Gitmo can torture people until they renouce their religion and nationality.

Seskas nature was not to trust a beatnick touchy feely hippy.

Over the years, kathryn grew into a monster I think Seska could have gotten along with.

Think about it.

A Cardassian Colony on Voyager.

How different would that have been to when she offered to take those Ferengi Home?