The Casualty «Dukat/Damar & OFC» 🔞 ✔️

16. Resist today

Nyran did not have to wake Damar up in the morning anymore. He was up and about before she even showed up in the palace, giving her a warm smile as she entered and shot him with a surprised look.

"I love to see you doing so much better," she whispered as she leaned closer to him, pretending to just reach for her PADD.

"I have a reason to, now," he said quietly with a smile.

The spark in his eyes was evident. His confidence was back. It was blatantly obvious the second you entered the room. Weyoun noticed right away, as Nyran saw through the glass panes of her door, when he came in a bit later.

He did make fun of Damar that he looked half-dressed without a bottle in his hand, but it also turned out he figured Damar's trust in the Dominion victory was restored now that they had teamed up with the Breen. Damar did not even have to come up with an explanation for his sudden change, Weyoun did it for him. Almost too perfect.

That left them enough room to prepare everything in peace.

.

It took about two weeks before Damar let Nyran in on the plan.

The Dominion was getting ready to crush some Federation forces. The Chin'Toka system was supposed to be in their hands within a few days -- but the Cardassians in the command center were not celebrating, for they were busy preparing for the rebellion. The mothership with Weyoun and the female Founder aboard was supposed to leave in the morning. Nyran figured it was now or never.

"So... I guess we're planning something for tomorrow?" she asked when she finished her shift and slumped into her usual chair in front of Damar's desk. He nodded.

"Oh six hundred hours on the dot, but I need you to meet me here first. We will have to download as much intel as we possibly can to take along with us. Any equipment you wish to have with you, take it tonight and pack it. Be careful -- if someone who's not with us catches you, I'll have to have you arrested to not raise suspicions and that would complicate our departure."

"Don't worry, I can be sneaky," she assured him. "I'll need to make a trip to the infirmary as well."

"What for?" Damar frowned.

"I've been refreshing my basic medical skills in the holosuite," she shrugged. "I want to have the essentials handy in case something goes wrong."

"Nyran," he smiled, "we'll have several doctors along with us."

"That's good, that's really good," she nodded, "but I don't want to leave anything to chance anyway. I'm already scared, let me use this as another reason to feel safer."

"I'm scared too," he said, suddenly serious. "We're going to lose a lot of good people tomorrow. It might even be me -- or you." He visibly shuddered at that thought. "But we need a big victory. The whole empire needs to stand with us if we are to have a chance against the Dominion. And they won't have faith in us if we're afraid to take big risks."

"I know," she sighed. "I understand. And whatever happens, I'll be there with you."

"I invited Gul Zessad along, did he tell you?" Damar wondered. "I forgot to mention it."

"Yes," she smiled. "I was about to break up with him, trying to come up with some bogus reasons so I wouldn't have to risk telling him about this, but he already knew everything. I'm glad you chose to trust him. He's a great guy."

"I believe it, I liked him myself when I talked to him," he smiled mildly. "But I was trying to say that we'll have to keep a professional distance even when we become rebels. The ranks won't have that much meaning anymore, but I'd hate to ruin your chances with him by us acting too familiar around each other."