The Casualty «Dukat/Damar & OFC» 🔞 ✔️

27. Aggressive negotiations

"Nyran?"

A jolt went through her when she heard her name being called, which gave her something else to focus on and helped her stop crying. It took her a minute to realize the sound was distorted, as if coming through a communicator.

"Nyran, do you read me?"

Then she discovered the source -- Kira's Starfleet combadge was lying on the floor two feet away from them. Someone had to beam it there, which meant they had access to the consoles -- someone had made it to the command center.

That poured new life into her limbs. She gingerly bent forward and reached for the badge.

"Nerys?" she croaked into it.

"Oh, hi, I was worried something happened to you there," Kira's voice sounded relieved. "How are you holding up?"

"It's not great, Corat's unconscious and I'm all out of power cells. We need help. Did you take the Founder hostage yet?"

"Yeah, but we're having trouble persuading her to stop the fighting," Kira muttered. "The Defiant is here, though, and Odo's beaming down to talk to her. Hopefully he'll have more luck. Hang in there for a little longer. The infirmary might still be crawling with Jem'Hadar."

"They can find us here just as easily, at least there I'll be able to help him," Nyran objected. "Can you beam him directly onto one of the surgical biobeds? I'm afraid I can't lift him."

"I'll do my best. Get your rifle ready, just in case. Kira out."

The infirmary seemed secure at first glance. Nyran waited a few more seconds to hear any sound that would indicate enemy presence, but it was quiet. She fought off the dizziness from standing up too fast after the beating her body had taken, and turned to Damar.

He was safely lying on a biobed. She carefully removed his armor and pulled apart the sides of his bodysuit to expose his chest and abdomen. Then she moved the surgical cover over him. The beds were simple enough to be operated even by medical students and people like Nyran -- you only needed to input the type of injury, scan the patient and choose additional conditions like stasis or restraints. The bed did all the rest of the work itself. It might have been an issue with something more complicated, but disruptor wounds were simple, so unless Damar was allergic to the anesthetic the bed picked, he should have been just fine from that moment on.

The thuds and beeps must have alerted someone nearby, though, because only a few minutes after the procedure began, the doors to the infirmary flew open.

"How did you get in here?" a cold voice sounded behind her. She froze, panicking. Her rifle was just a couple of inches away, lying across Damar's thighs, but a soft clicking sound coming from over her shoulder told her that the soldier had a weapon already trained on her. She cursed under her breath, sending all the Dominion goons to the worst sorts of hell, and slowly turned with her hands in the air.

"Hi," she smiled widely, using the full power of her teeth. "You look well. I'm not sure if we've met, what's your name? I'm Nyran -- "

"I don't care," he growled. "You can't be in here. And all the Cardassians are supposed to be eradicated," he beckoned to Damar with his rifle. "If you don't want to die, you will move away from him, so I can finish the job."

I'd rather die, thank you, went through her mind. What was Odo doing upstairs so long? One would think the inevitable impending death would make the Founder give up a long time ago. Maybe this soldier just had not gotten the memo yet.

"Are you sure those were your orders?" she tried. "I'd wager your treaty with Cardassia wouldn't allow for something like that."

"They've violated the treaty by betraying us," the Jem'Hadar spat. "There are no more words for them to hide behind. They all die today."