Leeta

Leeta was a Bajoran who lived in the 24th century. She was formerly employed as a dabo girl at Quark's on Deep Space 9, during which she began a relationship with, and eventually married, Rom. After Rom succeeded Zek as the Grand Nagus in 2375, Leeta became First Clerk and aided her husband in enacting progressive reforms within the Ferengi Alliance. (; )
== Life on Deep Space 9 ==
Leeta became a dabo girl in 2371, although she was an amateur sociologist. () She quickly formed friendships with many of the station residents, including Doctor Julian Bashir and science officer Jadzia Dax. She was even asked by Dax to take part in her Trill zhian'tara ritual. During the ceremony, the memories of one of Dax's former hosts, Emony, were temporarily transferred into Leeta. ()
In 2372, Leeta joined the Guild of Restaurant and Casino Employees in response to Quark's pay cuts. She helped lead the formation of the labor union, helping Rom stand up to his brother Quark. ()
When the Federation retreated from Deep Space 9 after the Second Battle of Deep Space 9, Leeta returned to Bajor for safety. () When the situation on the station became less dangerous, Leeta returned and helped the resistance cell which had formed against the Dominion. ()
When Quark temporarily posed as a female in 2374 to help Grand Nagus Zek regain his office, Leeta helped teach Quark how to act like a woman. () In 2375, she participated in a game of baseball in the holosuite with the senior staff of the station against a team of Vulcans. ()
== Relationships ==
===Romances===
====Julian Bashir====
Soon after moving to Deep Space 9, Leeta became interested in Julian Bashir and the two began dating. () Their relationship lasted for over a year, but the two decided to break up in 2373. They traveled to Risa and participated in the Bajoran Rite of Separation. Leeta then admitted to having a crush on Ferengi engineer Rom. ()
==== Rom ====
Leeta waited for Rom to ask her out for months, but he never worked up the courage. When Doctor Lewis Zimmerman visited the station to work with Doctor Bashir on his Long-term Medical Holographic program, he fell in love with Leeta. Knowing that Leeta had always wanted to open her own restaurant, he arranged for her to take control of an establishment on Jupiter Station. He asked her to return there with him and live together. She agreed and arranged to leave the station. Just as she was boarding a ship, Rom stopped her and confessed his love for her. Leeta admitted that she was in love with Rom, too, and Doctor Zimmerman returned home alone. () 
Rom and Leeta decided to get married quickly. Rom initially asked her to sign a Waiver of Property and Profit, a Ferengi legal document requiring her to give up all claim to his estate should the marriage end, but she refused. Rom eventually donated all of his money to the Bajoran War Orphans Fund to make the issue moot. () They asked the , Captain Benjamin Sisko, to perform the ceremony. He married them on the eve of the Dominion War. The two were temporarily separated when Leeta returned to Bajor while Rom stayed on the station as a Federation spy. () She returned to the station several months later and joined the anti-Dominion resistance cell lead by Major Kira Nerys along with Rom, Quark, Odo, and Jake Sisko. ()
When Rom was given the role of Grand Nagus by Zek in 2375, Leeta went with him to Ferenginar to help him carry out his duties. () She was introduced with the title of First Clerk when boarding the with Grand Nagus Rom in 2381. ()
===Friendships===
Leeta was considered by Jadzia Dax as one of the seven people she was closest to on the station, prompting her request that Leeta be the host of Emony Dax, one of the Dax symbiont's former hosts, during Jadzia's zhian'tara. ()
== Appendices ==
=== Appearances ===
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=== Background information ===
The character was named after pre-production coordinator Lolita Fatjo, as was Kivas Fajo. 
Leeta was played by actress Chase Masterson, who had previously auditioned unsuccessfully for the role of the dabo girl Mardah. Ira Steven Behr said about Masterson, "We kept her in mind, thinking she could make a fun character. When we cast her as Leeta in , we didn't know if we were going to continue her character right away. We just wanted to see how it would work." ()
Masterson summed up her character's arc, "I loved what they did with Leeta, bringing her from a lonely Bajoran Dabo girl part of a race that had been oppressed and someone who was an immigrant … someone who was from a marginalized society and a Dabo girl who was usually just meant for fun. To go from that to date the handsome British doctor and then to fall in love with the guy who was only pretty on the inside, what an incredible Star Trek message that was. And to be part of the storylines where Leeta stood up for justice in the Ferengi union and who refused to have a pre-nup with the man she loved because she truly believed that their relationship was to be forever and who had so much integrity and honor about her." 
Leeta's backstory was not elaborated on, so as Masterson commented, "I did make up my own. I think there were some things in the script regarding Leeta being a Bajoran war orphan. But there wasn’t a lot of backstory and that is okay. There were so many recurring characters, it was difficult for the writers to make the world any more full or detailed than it already was. It would have been great to have a little more context for Leeta and a little more grit and depth as the series progressed. But as it is, the character arc was brilliant and very indicative of the hope of Star Trek to go from being a lowly Dabo Girl, and a Bajoran at that, to being the wife of the Grand Nagus. I’m happy." 
Masterson commented on an aspect of Leeta's backstory she imagined herself, "I always half-joked that Leeta was a war orphan who was going to work her way through med school – hence, my attraction to Julian." 
When asked what Leeta's life would be like after DS9, Masterson commented: "I think Leeta is a leader of a social justice movement like Ferenginar has never seen! She is the of Ferenginar, standing up for the marginalized and making sure everyone has a seat at the table". Masterson also thought: "Now that Leeta has a position of influence, as the First Lady of the Ferengi Alliance, I’d like to think she’s working to help people who need it. There certainly were a lot of Bajoran war orphans, much like Leeta was. And there were countless Bajorans who were displaced due to the occupation and so many who lost family members. The war left untold wreckage…physical, spiritual, emotional, psychological, financial. Loyalty was a huge part of Leeta’s inner character, and I can’t imagine her leaving her own people behind now that she has the authority and means to help. So I’m thinking that Leeta is using her role as wife of the Grand Nagus to get some good things done, and at the same time be an example to the Ferengi Empire that money isn’t what really counts. I know, lotsa luck on that one, Leeta!" 
=== Apocrypha ===
In the relaunch series of novels, Leeta became pregnant and (after a hard pregnancy due in part to the fetus' half-Bajoran, half-Ferengi biology) gave birth to a baby girl named , named for the Emissary and the Bajoran word for "joy." Unfortunately, the word "bena" also means "underflooring" in the Ferengi language (although Rom defended it by saying that it symbolized how children were always getting underfoot). At the time of Bena's birth, Rom was being challenged for his role of Grand Nagus on the grounds that he had broken his original marriage contract with his first wife, Prinadora. Ro Laren buys the case time by noting that, according to the Rules of Acquisition, "A contract is a contract is a contract, but only between Ferengi", arguing that since Rom's second marriage was to a Bajoran woman in a Bajoran ceremony overseen by the Bajoran Emissary, he technically didn't violate his original contract as the new one doesn't "count" under Ferengi law. With this delay drawing the case out further, Quark was able to find proof that the evidence indicating Rom's first marriage had never been dissolved was false and he was in fact divorced. During the novel, Nog pays a brief visit to his mother, but departs when she fails to even recognize him, admitting later that Leeta has been more of a moogie to him than Prinadora ever was.
Leeta was never given a full name in course of the TV series, only ever referred to as Leeta. The novel Satisfaction is Not Guaranteed explained that this was because Leeta never knew her family name – she was an orphan brought up without a family during the Occupation of Bajor. The novel also explains that during the Occupation, she worked as a servant in the home of a Cardassian named Gallek who treated her well, and despite a growing attraction to her as she matured, never went beyond verbal compliments. Leeta used her influence with Gallek to make the lives of his servants better. Gallek died from a heart attack a week before the Occupation ended, and Cardassian forces burned his house during the withdrawal, leaving Leeta homeless. She gathered up the money she had managed to save over the years and eventually made her way to Deep Space 9.
Leeta appears in several roles in Star Trek Online; in all of her in-game appearances, she is voiced by Chase Masterson. Her initial appearance is in holographic form as part of "Dabo with Leeta", a product of Quark Enterprises. Holo-Leetas appear at the dabo tables at Quark's Bar on DS9, Drozana Station in the Neutral Zone, the resort on Risa, and the bar in Paradise City on Nimbus III. Player characters can also obtain a holo-Leeta bridge officer, in either her dabo girl or outfits, through special promotions. The real Leeta, in her role as First Lady of the Ferengi Alliance, appears in the expansion pack "Victory is Life".
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Category:Bajorans
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