The Casualty «Dukat/Damar & OFC» 🔞 ✔️

19. Cost of loyalty

"These are beauties," Seskal commented on elegantly looking missiles placed on thin pedestals along one of the walls.

"They are, but we have everything on the list," Nyran pointed to her PADD. Every item was checked.

"Did we know they had these when we put that list together?" he frowned. "I'm sure Legate Damar would be disappointed we didn't take at least a few with us when we could."

"And I'm sure he'll understand that we didn't want to take unnecessary risks by overloading the cargo hold of the fighter," she countered calmly.

"A few would hardly put us at risk, but whatever," he shrugged. "I won't forget to tell him that you were the one who decided to leave these behind, because I don't intend to look like a fool."

Nyran rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Ugh, gods, you're such a whiner," she growled. "Alright, we can take a couple, but not more," she handed him her PADD and went for the missiles herself, as he was already hauling a full crate to the beam-up spot and everyone else had already left the storage.

As soon as she outstretched her hand and reached for one of the missiles, a light erupted around her and an alarm started blaring. She turned, but the light was behind her too. When she tried to step out of it, the wall zapped her mercilessly. She was trapped.

She could see Seskal's eyes open wide. The dread on his face was too much; she knew he did not care about her safety any more than Rusot did. It told her something else, though: Rusot must have asked him to goad her into making this mistake, but he evidently had no idea why. Now that he realized what happened when the extra protection of the missiles was triggered, he must have figured out why Rusot wanted him to do it -- and that he had unwittingly become an accomplice to a court-martial offense against a fellow soldier.

Alarms continued to deafen them and the doors began to close... Seskal quickly propped them with a metal beam, but they kept trying to shut with great force and the metal screeched. They did not have much time.

"What the hell happened?" one of the soldiers yelled through the closing door.

"Go!" Seskal yelled at him and pushed the crate outside under the metal beam. "Take this last crate and get to the ship, I'll be right behind you."

"But..." he tried to argue, pointing to Nyran, but Seskal shook his head.

"I'll try my best to free her, but ultimately we can't leave these supplies here and we can't afford to stay either. Someone will come check on all this ruckus soon and we have to be gone by then. GO!"

The soldier quickly did as ordered, while Seskal examined the contraption holding Nyran.

"I'm sorry," he said, barely audibly over the loud sound of the alarm. When his eyes met hers, she saw they were full of guilt. "He said he wanted you gone, but I never thought he'd actually try to get you killed..."

She forced a smile through the waves of panic.

"I did," she chuckled sourly. "But I never expected you to deliver that sentence. Stupid me."

He groaned and kicked the field, only to shriek out in pain a millisecond later.

"How did he even know about this?" Seskal roared in frustration. "There was nothing in the dossier!"

"Legate Damar must have told him, but he was probably the one preparing the files," Nyran guessed. "He knew I don't deviate from orders and lists I'm given and would stop anyone else from doing something we weren't ordered to do, so the rest of you were safe."