Sigils and Unions: Catacombs of Oralius: "Flying Apart"

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction' started by Nerys Ghemor, Dec 6, 2011.

  1. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    This story takes place in my Sigils and Unions: Catacombs of Oralius AU and requires familiarity with previous stories involving my AU version of Skrain Dukat.

    It looks like AU Dukat finally has a chance to escape Bajor after the horrible torments he went through at the hands of Vedek Tora...

    ----------------

    So many lives on the line tonight.

    Skrain and Ziyal Dukat weren't the only ones risking everything to hitch a ride aboard the Bajoran transport to hopefully feel the warmth of Cardassia again. The Bajoran dissidents had found a Cardassian pilot, too. He'd been a riyăk, just barely out of the Inquisitorium when the Bajorans came, but the important thing was that he knew how to fly and he had actually done so in space. That was far more than the civilian Dukat could boast.

    Dukat dared not lift his eyes from the ground, lest the distinctive silver-white Cardassian eyeshine catch in the starlight and grab the attention of anyone else who might be out at such a late hour...and that even though he knew he could see much more clearly out here than the Bajoran ram agent who led the cloaked Cardassian at a run between the depowered ships on their landing pads waiting until the morning for takeoff. Such an aggressive people, Dukat thought bitterly, yet they actually give a damn about things like quiet hours.

    But the weight in his arms, unmoving except for her breathing, silently chastised him against that. Did she deserve such venom?

    For that matter, what about Lantis, the technician and secret follower of the Prophets, running alongside him now? Or Sulan, the dissident spy in Vedek Tora's household who had first set his escape into motion? Or Adami, the spiritually-embattled woman whose safe house had sheltered him and his daughter until preparations were complete for them to make a run for it? Or those who had sheltered the pilot another set of dissidents would be bringing to the ship? No, Dukat decided. They couldn't be blamed for the evil committed by the acolytes of the Pah-Wraiths.

    The hood of his cloak flew off as he ran, revealing his Cardassian features to all who might be in range. He couldn't spare a hand to lift it back up, for he needed both to carry his daughter. She's too much of a risk, Lantis had tried to tell him. She'll slow you down. But he'd insisted, and instead Lantis puffed out a sigh and reached up to fix Dukat's hood himself, Dukat doing all he could not to flinch at the unnaturally quick oscillations of his bioelectric field as his hand moved near his neck and jaw ridges in the process.

    Finally, as they made it to the underbelly of a smallish cargo vessel, Lantis whispered in Bajoran, "Stop."

    Silently Dukat complied, even though he had no universal translator. He knew that word from her well enough.

    "We are here," he said. "You stay." Lantis shuddered as the Cardassian's eyes searched his face, and snapped, "Eyes down!" Dukat knew that with his pupils dilated in the nighttime darkness, his eyes had to be shining, and for whatever reason, even the most dedicated of the rebels found their reassuring reflections to be unnerving.

    How long do we have until the spaceport's sensors come back online? Dukat wanted to ask, but he didn't have the vocabulary for it.

    Lantis turned, scanning across the tarmac, Dukat wishing he could help the Bajoran. He knew he could spot the dissidents with the pilot far more readily than Lantis could. But he decided not to push his luck; he needed this man's aid and if Dukat's eyeshine bothered him, then fine. He'd live with it, as long as it didn't look like the Bajoran's fear was going to cost his daughter's life.

    Finally--how long had it been?--Lantis reacted to something. Perhaps he heard the pair of footfalls before Dukat did, for he turned to Dukat and whispered, "They are here."

    Daring to look up, Dukat glimpsed another cloaked figure, though one not quite as tall as him. Dukat grinned at the interplay of light and shadow of moonlight across the man's facial ridges. Aside from his daughter, this was the first Cardassian face he'd seen since the day the Bajorans caught him.

    As the pilot moved closer, Dukat realized the man's hood was sitting on nothing but bare skin: the Bajorans had shaved it completely. Maybe even killed the hair follicles, if they felt like it, just for the sake of humiliating their prisoner. Dukat bowed his head without being asked. This man had been at one of the slave camps.

    The former slave's eyes narrowed as they swept over Dukat. His stomach twisted as the other man growled out a Bajoran term: "The consort."

    The Bajoran with the pilot snapped back in broken Cardăsda, "Quiet! Important is, take him home, away of Tora! Demons big loss have."

    "Well, I have a pretty big loss," the pilot hissed in his native language, apparently not caring if the dissident fully understood him, "considering that my wife won't be on this mission thanks to him, and there may not be a second chance!"

    Dukat gasped. Dear Oralius--they bumped his wife off this mission for me!

    "I don't want to break up your family," Dukat sadly whispered. "I didn't ask anyone to do that." He turned back to Lantis and asked in Bajoran, "His wife not go--why?"

    "No room," Lantis said. "Need pilot. Need you and child, for Pah-Wraith loss."

    The pilot blinked, uncomprehending. "You'd better explain what in the frozen tundra you're saying, consort. Do you think this is funny?"

    Dukat shook his head. "I asked him why they didn't bring your wife. He said there's not enough room." Dukat dared not repeat the rest. "Why? Make fit," he insisted in Bajoran, then repeated himself in his own language. "Why?" he repeated for the pilot's benefit. "Make room for her."
    Lantis' shoulders hunched. So did the man who had brought the pilot. It was the latter who replied in Cardăsda, "Pod two adult hold. Another mission--another mission!"

    "Where is she now?" Dukat pressed. "Did you at least get her out of the camp?"

    The other man hesitated.

    "What were you thinking?" Dukat burst out in an incredulous hiss. He could see from a tactical standpoint why the freedom of a pilot, and the consort and half-Bajoran child Vedek Tora had hoped to use to fulfil the dark prophecy of the Pah-Wraiths came first, but had the other Bajoran really given no thought to leaving the pilot and his wife in such a bind? "You should go back and set her free tonight. Lantis can tell you where there is a safe house in the city where this pilot's wife can rest and get stronger until that other mission--and you'd better swear there'll be another mission. Do you understand everything I'm saying?"

    Lantis' eyes went wide at the sound of his name as if to say, Don't drag me into this! Dukat glowered at him.

    As for the other Bajoran, he reluctantly nodded. "Free her. Now!" Dukat insisted once again for emphasis, repeating himself in simple language just in case the Bajoran had only claimed understanding out of fear. "As close to 'now' as you can! Take her to the house Lantis will tell you about. And make sure she is sent back to Cardassia Prime soon." Dukat turned to the pilot. "My group will shelter you until your wife is returned."

    He did not ask either one's name. He knew better; if he were recaptured, the last thing he wanted was for the Bajorans to be able to get their names out of him in an interrogation and endanger either of them.

    Dukat's advocacy did little to allay the bitterness in the pilot's eyes. And that Dukat understood just as well as if he felt it for himself.

    Lantis' badge buzzed. "No more time!" he hissed in Bajoran. Dukat translated, though the reaction of the other dissident had probably made the meaning of his words clear to the pilot.

    Lantis unsealed the container he'd been carrying slung on his back, pulling out two breathing masks, one for an adult and one for a child; the other Bajoran did the same.

    Before they'd left, Adami had explained that they would be traveling inside an escape pod, whose atmospheric recyclers would almost certainly not be activated until takeoff. Shut inside the pod for six hours behind an airtight seal without breathers, carbon dioxide poisoning would set in quickly otherwise. And even after takeoff, the excessive drain on the recyclers would alert the bridge, despite the ship's disabled life-sign indicators, that someone was already inside the pod.

    "They're going to hear that half-blooded baby!" the pilot groused, disgust clear on his features.

    Dukat injected as much venom into his whisper as he could. "Shut..up...about my daughter! It's not her fault! And she won't wake up...not for a while, at least," he added, his voice falling away almost to nothing.

    He'd almost thrown up when Adami carefully attached the tiny sedative pump to Ziyal's arm. Oh, Oralius, the thought of drugging his daughter, of taking that kind of risk with her hybrid physiology for what was likely to be days until the bomb exploded and forced the jettison of the escape pods--he loathed it with all his being. It made him feel even more like the worst father in all the worlds of Cardassia than he already felt. He feared what the Bajorans had done to his other three children. What if this risk killed Ziyal, undoing everything that this escape was for?

    The pilot grunted, his expression softening for a moment as he glanced at the motionless, sleeping bundle in Dukat's arms. Then he slipped on his breathing mask. Dukat did the same with Lantis' help, and then secured the tiny infants' version over Ziyal's mouth and nose, switching both devices on. According to what Adami had told him, this particular type of breathing mask would function for as long as a month of near constant wear, as long as they didn't engage in any strenuous activities, and kept their speaking to a minimum.

    Dukat prayed it wouldn't be that long.

    With a darting glance over his shoulder, Lantis keyed open a compartment on the belly of the Bajoran ship. The door popped far louder than Dukat had hoped and a ladder unfolded down to the tarmac. Lantis boosted Dukat up the ladder as the Cardassian father climbed one-handed; Dukat silently nodded his thanks. The pilot wasn't far behind.

    Dukat found a cushion of sorts, choosing one that looked to be further away from the main controls. That one he left for the pilot, who sat down next, keeping his eyes away from the other two passengers but mercifully heeding the dissidents' warnings not to waste words now that they were masked.

    Then Lantis slammed the door shut with a hollow crack and a hiss as the seal re-formed that made Dukat's ears pop.

    After that--nothing but near darkness except for a few panels running on reserve power, and silence only broken by the faint sounds of all three Cardassians breathing through their masks.

    The bald pilot glanced at him again, his fingers twitching once, then looking away again. Dukat suspected the man had intended to sign something to him, but reconsidered, thinking that perhaps as a civilian, Dukat would not understand the military sign language. Dukat considered signing something to him--but after that caustic introduction, decided he would rather withhold that fact until later, when a better time came. And when--perhaps--both of them had had a little time to cool down after their less-than-pleasant beginning.

    Dukat kept his eyes away from the pilot's as well, though with his peripheral vision he could see how thin the man was, and of course the absence of his hair.

    Dukat shuddered. Vedek Tora had cut off his own queue, but at least left him with that awful, close-cropped Bajoran hairstyle. After three weeks in the Bajoran safehouse, his hair now looked a bit shaggy, but still not even long enough yet to slick back into a proper military cut, let alone the queue that was supposed to come a third of the way down Dukat's back.

    Dukat pulled his daughter close. A tear slid down his cheek when the sedated, masked infant didn't coo or even shift in his arms. He set a hand on her back, letting the slow rise and fall of Ziyal's chest and the oscillations of her tiny bioelectric field reassure him that she was still breathing.

    Did the pilot's head turn towards him just a bit?

    Dukat didn't know. He simply closed his eyes and prayed.

    Finally, the Bajoran ship roared to life and he suddenly felt another bioelectric field besides Ziyal's close to him. He instinctively flattened against the wall as he opened his eyes, then relaxed--a bit--as he discerned the pilot giving him an exasperated roll of the eyes as he buckled Dukat in.

    Dukat nodded in gratitude, grateful that the dark umber breathing mask hid the fact that he couldn't muster up even a polite smile. He knew why the man was angry--Oralius knew he understood...but he couldn't help hearing the remark about his dear Ziyal still ringing between his ears.

    The pilot returned to his seat and with a click, buckled himself in.

    The transport pushed off of the ground with a violent shove of g-forces; Dukat at least knew enough from his cousin to realize that the inertial dampers wouldn't come on until they had cleared enough of the planet's atmosphere to go to impulse. But what mattered most was that finally, they were taking him away from Bajor.

    It was hard to believe that his homeworld lay only a few days away from this demon-infested place of horrors. That for so long, the worlds of Cardassia had sat so close to Bajor, never realizing that from this star they could actually see in their own skies, from some worlds, would come conquest. But from what Adami had told him, Bajor's ascent into space again--for they were an unimaginably old civilization--had come suddenly, even more so than that of the Hebitians or the terhăn-çăs, for the Pah-Wraiths had given it their unnatural drive and direction. It was they, above all, who reached their fiery fists to the stars.

    To Cardassia.
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2011
  2. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The ship lurched violently, wrenching Dukat once more out of his meditations. Two days they had sat in this damnable pod, barely removing their masks except to eat a few awful ration bars designed for Bajoran taste buds--and even that questionably so, Dukat suspected--and drink some water. He and the pilot still had not spoken since that exchange on the landing pad.

    Now the pilot growled out two words, muffled and just barely audible through his breathing mask: "Hold on."

    Warning klaxons sounded in the pod and presumably throughout the Bajoran vessel; he didn't have to know their language to understand that they warned of an imminent warp core breach. Dukat clutched his sleeping daughter in one arm and a phaser pistol in the other in case some of the Bajorans decided to try and board his escape pod before the automatic ejection.

    Lantis had assured him this ship was running with only a three-person crew and that they shouldn't touch any of the extra pods in the ventral section. But that did little to make Dukat feel any better as boots clanged against the deckplates above their heads, loudly enough to be audible even through the sealed hatch of the escape pod.

    Finally the boots went silent. Dukat hoped they'd found another pod and weren't just lying in wait while someone ran to get reinforcements against the Cardassian stowaways.

    Only when the escape pod blew free of the doomed Bajoran transport did Dukat allow himself to relax--a little.

    He thought about tapping the sedative pump on Ziyal's arm, letting the device begin to taper off her dosage and wake her up. Oh, Oralius, he wanted to so badly. But he dared not...he dared not until they had landed.

    The pilot sprang into action, inserting an isolinear chip into one of the pod's ports and replacing some of the Bajoran glyphs on the consoles with Cardassian script. He scanned the consoles for a moment, then keyed up a new display on the main monitor. Gruffly he pointed at the pinkish blips on the screen. "Those are the other pods," he said. "We'll wait for the others to set course and then we'll start our descent. These coordinates Jarema gave me had better be good," he warned.

    Dukat nodded, but did not open his mouth. Jarema must have been one of the Bajoran dissidents; after their lapse of judgment with regard to the pilot's wife, Dukat wasn't sure he trusted them all. But it wouldn't do to reinforce the pilot's memory, nor his bitterness, especially not now, as he frantically keyed in the course that would take them down to the desert sands of Cardassia Prime.

    At last the pilot spoke again. "That ought to be enough time. You might not want to look," he warned. "We're going to tumble until we reach atmosphere. Don't see any other ships in the area yet, but I don't want to make it look like anyone's flying this thing, of course."

    'Of course,' Dukat thought to himself, again replying with a simple nod. He might not have ever been in space other than his capture, and he'd slept through that flight just as Ziyal slept now, but he wasn't stupid.

    Oh, Ziyal...he clutched his daughter close again. The pilot's eyes lingered for a moment before abruptly cutting away.

    And they started their fall.

    At first Dukat closed his eyes. Then the roar of re-entry swelled louder and louder with a yellow-orange flare of fire onscreen. The inertial dampers went off and the pilot tapped furiously at the console, firing reverse thrusters again and again until their speed dropped to something saner.

    Dukat counted the seconds to himself until at last the landing antigravs kicked in, the deceleration completed, and they eased their way back down to the sands of Cardassia Prime at sunset.

    The pilot keyed open the hatch, ripping his mask off as a blast of warm air greeted them. Dukat followed suit for himself and Ziyal, and then drew the arid atmosphere of home into his lungs.

    Robed figures ran towards the "crash" site, shouting in a language Dukat recognized, but barely understood in its spoken form. The pilot's eyes went wide in alarm.

    "They're Sokol-haaf," Dukat hurriedly explained. "Kurabda. I can talk to them."

    Reluctant as he was to relinquish Ziyal, especially not to this man after what he'd said about her, he thrust his infant daughter into the gruff pilot's arms. Then he raised his hands to sign.

    His fingers moved as rapidly as his heart pounded; he saw the hands of the Sokol-haaf edging towards their weapons. --I am Dukat of the resistance against the outworlders,-- he said in Kurabda sign, --known to the tribe of Kekil-haaf. The three of us have been prisoners on their world. We need your help returning to our place near the lands of the Kekil-haaf. We first need to move away from here,-- he warned. --I do not want this craft to endanger you if the Bajorans come looking for us.--

    One of the Sokol-haaf men began to speak.

    --I understand little,-- Dukat replied. --My friend understands none. If you could please sign...--

    --We will take you,-- the tribesman confirmed. --The outworlders have become more and more of a nuisance to us, even here. There was an attack last year in the Kekil-haaf lands, and the rebels there moved to another cave we showed them. The Bajorans just burned the bodies with their weapons, did not even bury them.-- The tribesman shook his head at the barbarity of it.

    "Oh, Oralius," Dukat moaned aloud. That had to have been his people. The Bajorans had attacked the base after he was captured...who had lived? What had they done? His wife...his three children with her...had they survived? --Let me translate for my friend,-- he signed, buying himself some time to cope with the news.

    "The Sokol-haaf will take us to our base," Dukat said, "where we'll keep you safe until your wife is brought to us. But they said our base was attacked and has been relocated close to here." He didn't want to speak the words at first. But he was trembling now and couldn't hold them in. "I'm scared the Bajorans did it because of me. They took DNA from me when they captured me. And if they'd wanted to destroy all of us, they could have. Riyăk, my family...I don't know what they did but I just can't stop thinking--"

    The pilot's lips pressed together in a thin line, his countenance turned to stone. Finally words emerged. "Let's pray that's not so." He cast his eyes at Ziyal one more time. His voice softened a bit more. "If you're sure we can trust these people, I think it's time to start waking her."

    Dukat nodded as the pilot handed his daughter back.

    She might be all he had left.
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2011
  3. Thor Damar

    Thor Damar Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Just a very quick question (and apologies if you've already answered this one before)in your universe, are the Pah-wraiths residing in the Wormhole or are they enthroned on Bajor itself?

    Also I find your revelation that the Pah-wraiths had a more...direct hand in Bajoran expansion to be very interesting indeed. How direct were those flaming monsters in their guidance of said Bajoran puppets?

    I'll have more later.:cool:
     
  4. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not sure exactly what the extent of the Pah-Wraith involvement was, but I am sure they had something to do with stoking the expansionist flames.

    As to where the Pah-Wraiths reside, I am currently leaving that matter open.

    Anyway, I look forward to any further comments you might have. :)
     
  5. Rush Limborg

    Rush Limborg Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Intense, dramatic--and well-written, as always, Nerys.

    I sincerely hope the dissidents do get the pilot's wife.

    Quick question...is there a prequel to this story? Because I don't recall reading of AU Dukat's capture by the Bajorans, or anything about his "adventures" (to use a very bad euphemism) in the resistance....
     
  6. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Thank you. And I hope they rescue her too. AU Dukat is normally a quiet man, but as you can see, finding out that another family was broken up so that he and his daughter could go home together was upsetting for him. It was too easy for him to imagine how that would feel. He knows the tactical reasons the Bajorans chose to do that, but it still bothers him, a lot.

    There are some stories that were posted, I think, prior to your joining the board.

    The first of these is "Exits in the Haze," which shows what happened during AU Dukat's captivity. Please note the disclaimer on that one. I think I did a fairly good job avoiding going too far with the details, though.

    The next story, which shows what happened right after he got away from Vedek Tora, is "A Door to the Soul."

    "Flying Apart" takes place next.

    It is then followed by "The Guide," which changes POV's but continues the story.

    However, I have not written the mission that got AU Dukat captured in the first place.

    Feel free to PM with any comments on those stories, if you would like.
     
  7. Rush Limborg

    Rush Limborg Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Ah! So, this tale "fills in the blanks," as it were?
     
  8. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yes...I've been meaning to write this for a long time, but couldn't quite figure out how the escape from Bajor happened until now.
     
  9. Gul Re'jal

    Gul Re'jal Commodore Commodore

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    Ok, so here's my review from AdAstra, opened for farther discussion :)

    A very risky escape and so many things could have gone wrong. Even such a little thing as one of the masks damage could cause a lot of problems with their plans. It appears that the dissidents had done it many times and knew what to do, but there's always that unknown factor of accidents.

    And the terrible situation of saving a life (two lives) at the cost of others. For Dukat it clearly was terrible and I wouldn't be surprised if he backed out of the whole operation and insist on saving his pilot's wife if not Ziyal. But his daughter was more important for him than anything and her life most precious. It didn't mean that he'd stop caring about the unknown woman's fate in the slave camp, but he decided to go on with the plan, even after learning what a sad decision had been made to allow this to happen.

    He couldn't forget easily the harsh words the pilot had said about Ziyal, but I wonder if he later realised that he had done exactly the same thing. He did chastise himself for that, but his first reaction was ugly. Maybe it also was the pilot's first reaction and he later, too, regretted his words. It did seem that his attitude changed a bit and he was softening each time his eyes were on the bundle in Dukat's arms.

    In the end they arrived at the planet and Dukat can enjoy the relative freedom (relative, because as long as the Bajorans aren't gone it's not real freedom), but very sad news await him there. He doesn't know yet how true his last thought was.
     
  10. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not entirely sure how many times the dissidents had done this, but certainly they did seem to know what to do. I'm sure they have to avoid doing it too many times, because they can't have every ship coincidentally getting bombed in orbit of Prime.

    You're very right: had Dukat not had a daughter, he probably would have backed out. I'm not 100% sure how his judgment would've been since he's off his meds at this point. (That said, without Ziyal, he probably would've attempted suicide again after the rape. :( )

    He does care about the woman in the slave camp, though, and I know he wants her to be rescued. He meant the angry things he said to the dissidents--that they should have at least ensured the pilot's wife was out of the camp and recuperating somewhere safer.

    I suspect that at some point Dukat will regret snapping at the pilot to shut up about Ziyal, but with all the emotional turmoil he's going through and that he's about to face--and the fact that he is off his meds--my guess is it will take him some time to process that. AU Dukat is not a man who holds a grudge anywhere near as easily as Gul Dukat, but I know that an insult to family is the hardest thing for him to let go of.

    I think that the pilot began to realize how Dukat cared for his daughter. How hard it was for Dukat to have to carry her drugged unconscious for the entire flight so that earlier in the flight she didn't give away their presence to the Bajoran crew or knock her mask off and take up oxygen they couldn't afford in there. Maybe the pilot wondered how he would've handled the situation in Dukat's shoes if he had been trying to get a child off of Bajor.

    At least Dukat is "in his element" now, back in the desert. But if you read "The Guide," you'll see what happens after that. :(
     
  11. Rush Limborg

    Rush Limborg Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Any chance we'll see a "revenge" tale in the future, with Vedek Tora getting what's due?
     
  12. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not sure when that will be written yet...
     
  13. jespah

    jespah Taller than a Hobbit Moderator

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    Thank you for posting this here - as I told you on Ad Astra - I love the immediacy of the story but also how Ziyal (understandably) does not know why this is being done, or that it's being done for her. Hope the dissidents get the wife out, but I'm not too optimistic about that. It just seems that she would be a ripe target for retaliation.
     
  14. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Thanks for your review. :)

    I hope the wife gets out too. Unfortunately I don't know what happens on Bajor after this. :-/
     
  15. Gibraltar

    Gibraltar Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I just finished your first post of this story, and you’ve got me hooked. The palpable tension of Dukat and Ziyal’s flight from Bajor is nerve-wracking. I loved the initial interaction between the pilot and Dukat. It’s amazing that even after all Dukat’s suffered at the hands of the Bajorans, he’s still viewed caustically by some others of his own species for being the vedek’s consort, as if he’d had any choice in the matter.

    Wonderful stuff, and I’m eager to see where the story develops from here.
     
  16. Gibraltar

    Gibraltar Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Wow, Dukat and Ziyal actually made it home! Given his run of luck lately, I'd worried that they'd be re-captured by the Bajorans. Not that they aren't still in grave danger, but just to have made it all the way home from Bajor is a major feat in and of itself.

    This was a terrific short story, underscored by Dukat and Ziyal's utter helplessness and dependance upon the pilot for their very lives.
     
  17. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Thanks for reading. This review was a wonderful end-of-year surprise. :)

    Given the way comfort women were looked at on the show, I imagined that due to gender stereotypes, a "comfort man" might face that and worse. Not everyone believes a man can be raped. :(

    Given AU Dukat's familiarity with the desert and its inhabitants, it's a pretty good bet he'll make it. The sequel to this story can be found at Ad Astra and is titled "The Guide."

    Thank you for reading. :)
     
  18. Captain2395

    Captain2395 Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    I really enjoyed this. Dukat is one of my favorite characters from DS9. He's the Cardassian I love to hate but there are actually plenty of layers to him. I think you understand him and how to use him in a story.
     
  19. Nerys Ghemor

    Nerys Ghemor Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 4, 2008
    Location:
    Cardăsa Terăm--Nerys Ghemor
    Welcome...it's always pleasant to see a new face. :)

    This isn't the same version of Dukat as you're probably used to, but I'm glad you like him. There was always such a sense (to me) of wasted potential to be a good man, in Dukat, so I wanted to explore what that man could be like. I'm glad it caught your eye. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you're interested in more.
     
  20. Marie1

    Marie1 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Location:
    Alpha Centauri
    Doth more cometh? Or did l miss it somewhere...