*Chapter triggers: (light) attempted non-con.
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Nyran expected things to go horribly wrong at every turn, but after four or five flawless missions she had to learn to relax. No ship malfunctions, no airlock accidents, no unexpected variables in the supply sites. Rusot might have been just bluffing, trying to scare her with empty talk. But there was also the possibility that he simply could not find the right opportunity to dispose of her, not wanting Cardassians to get caught in the death-trap as well. In any case, living under this level of stress was making her feel sick, so she decided to stop worrying. If he was true to his word, she really might not see it coming early enough anyway.
They had another victory to celebrate. Damar called her in for a briefing a few minutes before everyone else just to enjoy this bit of good news alone together.
"Before they can wrap their heads around that one, we'll attack the Tevok shipyards," he grinned. Then his smile withered, when he remembered the cost. "We've lost one ship of our own, though, and there've been a few deaths on several others. Thankfully, all the injured are getting decent treatment because of you -- the last run provided us with all the medical supplies we need right now."
"It wasn't my idea and I could not have done it alone," she reminded him politely, but smiled nonetheless. "We're also damn lucky doctor Idra decided to join the cause. She's magnificent. I watched her work before I came over and I nearly fell in love with her."
"I can understand that, she was my secret crush at the Academy," Damar chuckled. "She only joined because she knew me before I even became Dukat's Adjutant. Said I was a disgrace as a leader, which is true, but that she always thought I was an alright guy and going off to fight the Dominion was proof enough of that for her."
"'An alright guy'," Nyran snorted. "Understatement of the decade, if you ask me. But I'm glad she's with us. A few of the guys in the infirmary right now would not have made it without her."
When the rest of the team arrived, Damar sent the mission dossiers to their respective PADDs.
"It's a simple one," he said in his usual dry workplace tone. "We need to replenish some of the weapons and ordnance that was used in the recent attacks. It is quite likely you'll meet a patrol or two on this route, which is why you get to fly in one of the Jem'Hadar fighters this time. Glinn Seskal will be the main pilot and the leader of the mission, you can pick a copilot according to your own judgment."
"Thank you, Legate," Seskal saluted. The group then moved as one to the prepared fighter.
No patrols stopped them, however. The trip was so smooth and uneventful, even Nyran relaxed a bit, opening a book on her PADD behind the coms. When they arrived at the designated coordinates, they were asked to submit the request for supplies and they complied, which allowed them to get close enough to the station for a precise strike that wiped out the main guard tower, leaving only a few guards in their way for when they beamed to the surface.
Nyran did not really have to be armed, as the rest of the group were seasoned soldiers -- Damar refused to send her along with rookies -- but she held onto her rifle just in case anyway. She even got a few shots in, when one of the Jem'Hadar guards surprised Seskal as he jumped out of a dark corner, grabbed him by the hem of his armor and nearly stabbed him.
"Thanks," Seskal shot her a half-hearted smile. She shrugged in response. He was Rusot's right hand, it was no surprise he held no love for her, he must have been listening to his boss's rants all day long. Still not a reason to let him die needlessly.
When the perimeter was secured, they used the security code to open the door to the storage. The soldier left behind aboard the fighter beamed down empty crates. They filled each of them to the brim and sent them back up.
"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."
Shooting the source of the beam did no good and there were no panels on the wall, only the series of missiles. The controls must have been in another room, or perhaps even in the tower which they had reduced to rubble. The piece of metal holding the door moaned and slowly started to bend; their time was running out.
Seskal gave her a wild look and she knew there was nothing else to be done.
"Go," she yelped. "No need to die here with me, Seskal. Just please tell someone what happened and..." she gulped hard. "Tell Arem I'm lucky to have known him."
"I'll get help," he promised instead.
"No! Don't be crazy, we can't risk more people! Better you just tell them I'm dead already, so no one will come looking for trouble. Just move the base and cover your tracks and you'll be safe. No need to put more lives in danger. Do it, alright?"
"I don't take orders from you, you know," he smirked.
"Please," she croaked, on the verge of losing control over her tear ducts. "Rusot will probably just try again and when he succeeds, anyone we lose in an attempt to save me will have died for nothing. I couldn't stand that."
"I'll... I'll see what I can do," Seskal deflated. "Just... try to remember your training. Hold on. Maybe there's another way out. Don't lose hope just yet, alright?"
"I won't," she forced another smile. "Go. Before it's too late for you, too."
A minute after he left the metal beam snapped in half, adding another trap on top of the force field holding her. Nyran allowed her panic and grief to break out in a bout of crying, but she could not even collapse onto the floor, as the searing light surrounding her barely gave her enough room to move at all. Her body had long since started to hurt and cramp before a patrol of Jem'Hadar finally checked on the station and found her.
"Isn't that Damar's Bajoran lackey?" one of them said curiously, while another disabled the force field with a remote. The rest of them stood in a semi-circle pointing disruptors at her.
"Yes. The Founder will be pleased," someone agreed. "Her interrogation will surely yield valuable intel we can use to crush his movement."
Nyran gulped. She hoped that by then the whole headquarters were alerted and looking for a new place to settle. When they broke her -- and she knew they would -- no one there would be safe.
.
Seskal thought long and hard on their way back to the headquarters.
He had served with Rusot for years, admiring the man, trusting him. He could understand his desire to dispose of a rival, but... he never would have expected to be used to that end in such a way, like he meant nothing. Rusot should have come clean with him, should have told him what was going to happen. He should have trusted him to make the decision to help him on his own. Instead, he simply set him up. He could have done that to anybody, no need to use his oldest fan.
Which was why he suddenly found himself siding with said rival. She might have been annoying, uncomfortable, quarrelsome, putting Rusot in a bad position, tarnishing his image in the eyes of other soldiers... But when push came to shove, she took the attempt on her life like a champ, worried about Seskal of all people instead of wailing and begging him to save her. That was something he never would have thought possible, not from a tiny soft Bajoran girl who looked like anyone could break her in half with their bare hands. She accepted her sentence like the soldier she was.
And that just made Rusot's plan seem all the more despicable. Unworthy of a Cardassian Gul. Almost Romulan in nature. Seskal's heart was breaking, but he could not stand letting such an act go unnoticed. He refused to just let her suffer the Dominion interrogation only to be executed at the hands of Cardassians still loyal to the enemy.
It was his fault anyway and someone would surely get the brilliant idea of blaming him for screwing up. If he did not reveal Rusot's involvement right away, he would not get another chance -- no one would believe him later.
When they arrived, Seskal left the unloading to his comrades and ran to the command center looking for Legate Damar.
"Sir," he urgently asked for his attention, "sir, I have some bad news."
.
The Jem'Hadar fighter was waiting for them docked at one of the airlocks. Nyran wore a pair of heavy handcuffs strapping her wrists tightly together behind her back and walked surrounded by the soldiers.
She did not resist. There was no way she could have fought her way out of a group of Jem'Hadar, even if they were not armed with disruptors. They would kill her before they let her escape, skipping the interrogation altogether and moving onto the execution, and she had no desire to be taken anywhere unconscious either. She needed to meet her fate with eyes wide open, so she could spit death in the face before it took her.
A couple of Cardassians met them at the airlock. She frowned at the traitors when their mouths stretched with nasty smiles realizing who their bosses had captured.
"What a catch, Yasadi'kush!" one of them exclaimed. "Did you figure we were getting lonely surrounded by your ugly mugs and decided to bring us a toy?"
Eww. It was just her luck to end up among horny pigs. Nyran gave them a nasty glare, but they paid little attention to her expressions, busy looking up and down her body.
"She's a rebel," Yasadi'kush said, unphased. "We're taking her to Cardassia for interrogation. If she's in any way a toy, only the Founder will be allowed to 'play' with her, Kriot. I suggest you remember that. Take her to the holding cell."
And he pushed Nyran in between the Cardassians. Their greedy hands ignored the Jem'Hadar's warning and kept cupping anything they could reach the whole trip to the cell.
"Keep your hands to yourselves, collaborators," she spat once they were out of Yasadi'kush's earshot. The chattier Cardassian howled with laughter.
"Typical Bajoran, full of hot air. Don't worry, sweetheart, if we don't like what you're saying, we can just gag you," he promised cheerfully. "It's not like you have any power to stop us from doing anything."
"She doesn't smell so good," the other one protested.
"We can give her a rinse," Kriot shrugged. "There's a built-in sonic shower in the cell walls, did you know?"
"Dope," the other one lit up. "Handy if your prisoner's yucky. How do you turn it on?"
"The panel on the left."
Great, Nyran thought. I'm finally getting a nice shower and it's only to get raped by two tasteless brutes. The day kept getting better and better. She hoped the Jem'Hadar would walk in before they had a chance to really do anything and make them stop. She would really appreciate being spared at least one horrible experience on her way to any kind of afterlife there might be.
She felt a slight tug as the ship began its journey to Cardassia Prime.
.
"It's all my fault, sir, and I will accept any punishment you deem appropriate," Seskal finished explaining, fixing his gaze on Damar's right ear.
There was a long pause. When Seskal dared look at him, he saw that Damar's face had lost all color. He stared blankly at a point somewhere above Seskal's left shoulder, jaw loose.
"Rusot," he finally whispered, voice heavy with wounded disbelief.
Fortunately, Rusot was nowhere near right now; Seskal was unsure of his ability to tell Damar everything if he had met his boss at the command center.
"What do you think we should do, sir?" he asked carefully, but urgently. "We can't just let her die there."
"We're not in the business of alleviating your guilt, Seskal," Damar growled, finding his voice once more. "But we're also not in the business of leaving our people behind," he added softly. "Letting the enemy get her intel would be risky even if we moved the base. Prepare the fighter and three corvettes, we have to be on our way as soon as possible. And call Gul Zessad, I want him along."
"Yes, sir," Seskal saluted, relieved, and ran to do as he was ordered.
Damar in the meantime collapsed behind his console. He was barely able to muster enough strength to finish the short conversation. His muscles felt like jelly and the blood had trouble reaching them. He could feel his arms and legs tremble.
This could not be happening...
She could be anywhere by now. Or could she? His brain was trying, but his thoughts were heavy and slow. It was likely they had recognised her... Would the Founder be interested in interrogating her? Yes, probably. She knew Nyran was just a clerk, but since she joined the resistance along with her boss, one could assume she must have accumulated some important information. At the very least they would have used her to get inside his head. Which meant she would stay alive as long as she was useful.
So... how were they supposed to find her before she reached Cardassia Prime and disappeared behind impenetrable defenses -- at least impenetrable to his rugged band of dissidents?
If someone had come to the station and found her already, then assuming they decided to bring her to the Founder, the trajectory was quite straightforward. They could intercept the Jem'Hadar or Breen or whoever showed up and take her from them while still a long distance from the capital planet and the most heavily guarded sectors of the empire.
That actually sounded like a solid plan that had a chance to work. As long as they did not under- or overestimate the time of departure, they should be able to catch up with the captors. They needed another ship, yes. One that would fly to the station and check the situation, so they could calculate their current location more precisely*.
Damar's strength slowly returned, even if restless and trembling, and he was already on his way to the shuttle.
.
"Just why exactly are you wearing a Cardassian uniform, honey?" Kriot asked curiously, as the shower was slowly doing its work. They were both inside with her, so at least they would be clean as well when they did the deed. Silver linings.
"Whadya think, dunderhead?" she huffed. "I'm a soldier."
Kriot rewarded her insult by grabbing her hair and roughly pulling. Nyran groaned. Some tears popped into her eyes, but it was just a physical reaction to the searing pain at her hair roots. Her insides were trembling with disgust.
"Why would a Bajoran soldier have a Cardassian uniform, Miss Sassy?" he made his question clearer and let go of her.
"I guess because I serve in the Cardassian fleet, genius."
"You don't serve in any fleet," the other guard shook his head. "Yasadi'kush said you're a rebel. What, are Bajorans pissed at the Federation now, too? You people are hard to please."
"Good one, Omlan," Kriot laughed. "Bajoran trash."
"Aren't you, like, hunting Legate Damar and his people?" Nyran wondered in disbelief. These guys must have been awfully under-informed.
"So?" Kroyt shrugged.
"She must be one of them," Omlan rolled his eyes. "Somehow."
Evidently, he was the brains among the two, although it could not have been hard to be smarter than Kriot. Meeting a dumb Cardassian was not exactly common, but it did happen; every species had a range of intelligence and someone had to be at the bottom.
"Damn. Damar has good taste," Kriot appreciated. "You don't leave such a pussy behind when you can bring her along, huh?" he chuckled.
Nyran wished she had met him somewhere far from here, alone, her being the one who was armed. She was getting sick of creeps talking about her as if parts of her reproductive system were the only noteworthy thing about her. Anger bubbled deep in her belly, not rising only because she was in a powerless position and knew it could not be properly released. If she could get her hands free, however, there would be a very different sort of banging in this cell and their stupid heads would take the brunt of it.
Yasadi'kush entered the room and looked around.
"Are you two fucking around with the prisoner?" he narrowed his eyes threateningly.
"Of course not." Kriot gave him such an innocent look even Nyran almost believed him.
"We're just giving her a shower," Omlan added. "I'm sure you noticed she didn't exactly smell like flowers. Do the Founders have a sense of smell? We'd hate to insult her with a dirty captive."
"Good, keep at it," Yasadi'kush nodded and disappeared again.
Nyran wondered if it would help to scream. Maybe Yasadi'kush was serious about only the Founder being allowed to "play" with her and would save her, at least from rape. She had to be careful to scream at the right moment, though, as these two would not hesitate to shoot her -- or gag her, like Kriot promised. It did hang on another variable going her way, though -- the cell must have had a "silent mode" and if they remembered to activate it, screaming at any time would be pointless. Well, they say hope dies last, right?
"Time to get that armor off," Kriot wagged his brow ridges with a grin.
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* This was totally off-script and everything, so excuse my poor skills, please xD. This is the one "mission" that wasn't in the series or any of the books (which I didn't read directly, but got the gist from another fic). I hope I did moderately well.