I made my way from the promenade to the airlock. Soldiers gave me quizzical looks as entered the ship. First I had to notify the Guls aide to where I was going and what I was doing. He knew already but they were all formalities. I was nervous. My father had told me to act calm in these situations and not to show any weakness. I took a deep breath and chimed the door to the boardroom. “Enter.” A gruff voice answered me. Three men stood facing stellar charts on a screen on the wall and turned as I entered. “Who are you?” The senior officer asked. He had the hardened look of a veteran soldier. A little like my father. “Izar Enettu. The engineer you requested.” They looked at me incredulously. A younger man spoke, clearly annoyed. “We ask for an engineer and they send us a child! Go back to your superiors and tell them to send us another person.” He barked the order at me. I stood there not knowing what to do. I hoped the shock didn`t show too much on my face. “What are you waiting for? Someone to hold your hand and show you the way out?” He laughed and so did the others. That really annoyed me. I mustered as much calmness as I could and spoke with forced politeness. “They sent me to upgrade your sensors and that`s what I am going to do.” I was full of fake bravado. “The Gul of this ship has approved me so it`s me you are stuck with.” The younger officer, Glinn by his insignia, shook his head and laughed disbelievingly. The senior officer spoke. “Very well then young lady. We will let you work on our ship. Glinn Damar will supervise you though. I don`t want you blowing up anything and destroying this ship.” He stepped closer to me and looked me dead in the eye. “One fuck up and you are gone. Understood?” “Yes Sir.” “Glinn Damar. Escort this young lady down to engineering. She will report directly to you.” “Yes Sir.” Glinn Damar looked even more annoyed. He looked at me coldly and motioned me to follow him. We didn`t speak for the entire walk. He seemed determined to ignore me. That was fine by me. I was deeply embarrassed by the things he had said moments before. We entered the area of engineering I was supposed to be working in, it was virtually empty. He turned and looked at me. An arrogant smirk played at his mouth. “Now here we are young one.” He stood beside me and pointed out different stations and consuls. “This is for the warp drive, don`t touch it. This one here with the pretty colors is for the matter/anti-matter control. Don`t touch it either." He wagged his finger at me. He made me so angry. "This here is.." I cut him off. "That`s the environmental control, and let me guess, I am not to touch it." I smiled sweetly at him, batting my eyelashes. "This is all first year stuff you are telling me. But if you need to point it out to refresh your own memory I have no problem with that." I got him good there. He confirmed to me that men were crap at the sciences. "Hump, so the little madam has balls. But let me tell you something that you should always remember. Anymore insubordination from you and I will mark it in your record. You don`t want a black mark like that to taint your what will be unremarkable career now do you?" He got me there. My father would kill me for showing lack of respect to an officer. I looked down at me shoes. "No I wouldn`t Glinn Damar." "Follow me then." And I did. The sensor control showed numerous flashing lights indicating failures. He opened a hatchet under the control and knelt down. I mimicked him. I took out my scanner from my tool kit and began to scan. It was totally shot. The whole thing probably needed to be overhauled. I had a difficult task ahead of me. "The last attack from the those Federation terrorists fucked the sensors and our weapons array." "My father told me they are attacking neutral vessels. They are scum." "Your father is in the military?" "Isn`t everybody's?" "But he is patrolling the boarder." "Yes. He is a Dal under Gul Evek on the Vetar." He didn`t answer me for a while. I continued to scan. I started to talk again. "Have you asked for the replacements yet?" "How could I have asked for a replacement if I have been with you the whole time." I was confused. "Excuse me?" "You haven`t messed up yet so how can we replace you?" Clarity dawned on me. "I meant replacing the damaged equipment."
I spent a very frustrating 8 hours with Glinn Damar. He questioned every move I made. He was so idiotic. If all officers were like him how did they ever get things done? I understood his motives for being an ass. He wanted to assert his superiority over me. As much as I respected his rank and his role in protecting Cardassians like me, he made me so angry. It musn`t be fun for him to supervise an engineer but he didn`t have to make things worse for the both of us by hovering around me like an annoying fly. I entered my quarters and went straight for my tiny bedroom. My entire quarters was tiny but I was happy to have some peace and privacy after spending 9 years in a dormitory with 10 other girls. My only roommate was a scientist the same age as me that I had met for about 5 minutes before she had to leave. I undressed and sat on my bed undoing my hair. My thoughts kept on returning to Glinn Damar. Trust my luck to be stuck with someone like him. I showered quickly and relaxed on my little sofa while my hair dried. I scrutinized the length. I should really cut it. It was all the rage back on Cardassia Prime to go for a shorter cut. All of a sudden I felt very lonely. I missed my family and I missed my old classmates. Now I understood why my father and brothers were so happy to be home. Our families make us. We are nobodies with out them. My friends at the academy were a sort of pseudo family for me. We ate, slept and lived together. But here was different. Making friends was difficult if all your collegues were competing with each other for the best posts after this mission. I was to stay here for at least a year. The station was bare in amenities and distractions as it was. Another scientist told me that sometimes Lissipian traders would come and sell unusual things. It saddened me that this was the only thing I would have to look forward to in the future. There were two bars and a cafe on the promenade. The bars I would forgo. It would be improper of me to go there on my own. The cafe was innocent enough. There was also a small restaurant, mostly the senior officers went there, and a larger cafeteria for the rest of the crews that would come and go. I reached for my copy of The never ending sacrifice and began to read. It proved futile. Something was bothering me but I couldn`t put my finger on it. Glinn Damar had annoyed me yes. He made me feel like an insignificant insect. Surely he would respect the work I was doing for Cardassia as respected his work. His arrogant smirk was still vivid in my mind. I didn`t hate him. Why would I. I wanted him to respect me. I was used to women`s criticism but it seemed 100 times worse coming from a man. I was being childish. I would prove him wrong. Why did I even care about proving a stupid man wrong. I threw down my book padd and lay pouting on my sofa. My stomach started to rumble and I knew it was time for me to eat. I threw on whatever clothes I could easily and braided my hair into a rough plait that my mother would chastise me heavily for if she saw it. I grabbed some work padds and made my way to the cafeteria.
I laughed out loud when she shot down Damar with "refreshing his memory" And interesting start and I wonder where you're going to go with it. The bickering starts promising One note, though. Please separate paragraphs by an empty space, it's easier to read it that way than a block of texts without any breaks.
I wonder myself where I am going with it. I am sorry about the spacing. Next chapter it will be better. Thanks for the feedback.
I usually know where I go with my stories, but my characters are sometimes naughty and change my plans
Characters are naughty! I have the clearest picture in my mind of how she is, but, the problem being that it is hard to translate that into words.
Is this your first fanfic story, or have you written something before? Or maybe you have some original stories? I don't know how it works for you, but I usually "watch" my stories. They play in my head like films and then I write them down.
The very first DS9 fanfic. I have written others for Harry Potter (another obsession). I can imagine the most interesting bits, but, when it comes to writing down all the little details that`s where I get stuck.
Sometimes, when I get stuck with "in between" material, I write down those scenes I have in my head and then write the material that is missing, trying to connect the scenes that are already done. It doesn't always work, but at least keeps me writing. Right now I have 20 pages of material to publish and a lot of things that should happen in between to write down. And a writer's block Anyway, I hope to see more of this story soon
Writers block is the worst. I want to read more of your stories. They were the first things I have read about Cardassians that was not creepy. Publish Publish.
The cafeteria was buzzing with noise. Men in identical uniforms and with identical hair jostled and joked with each other. I joined the end of the queue and picked up a tray. You had two choices. You could use the replicators or you could eat the food that was prepared here. My superior told me that the former was the best option, the cooked food here was atrocious. I scanned the room looking for a familiar face. I could find none. Just uniformed soldiers. I spotted Glinn Damar sitting down at a table with a group of three others. Our eyes met and he gave me another one of his scornful looks. He whispered something to one of his comrades who looked over at me and laughed. I could feel myself blushing and turned to look at the back of the mans head who was in front of me like it was the most interesting thing I have ever seen. My insides were boiling with rage and embarrassment. I could hear more laughing coming from his direction. I felt a something touch the back of my arm. I jumped as if I was scalded. I turned and saw my new roommate Odoja. “I am sorry if I scared you.” She said concerned. “No, no. I was a million light years away. How are you?” “Tired. Today has been really stressful.” “The same for me. This place will take some getting used to.” “That`s true. I have just spent the most frustrating 10 hours with a thick skulled communications officer. He refused any suggestion I made to enhance their array.” “I know what you mean. The Glinn I was stuck with was a real pain. I don`t question him about his work so why should he question me?” “It`s because we are young. They want to feel like big men.” “Big men don`t behave like that though.” “That`s true. It`s our turn next. The food looks horrible.” She wrinkled her nose at the officer in front piling his plate high with what looked like Sem`hal stew. “Let`s go to the replicators instead.” “Good idea.” We ordered our food and went to find a table. I spotted Glinn Damar watching us from the corner of my eye. There was an empty table next to his that Odoja was heading towards. “No not there.” I said loudly. “There is a nasty smell.” Glinn Damars comrades let out an “Ooooh” and started to laugh. Odoja looked puzzled as I led her to an empty table at the far end of the room. I sat with my back to his table. “That was the nasty Glinn I take it.” She smiled at me. “Yes, he embarrasses me every chance he gets.” She smiled again at this. “You are taking this personally.” “I suppose I am. He makes me so angry.” “Angry? Nothing more?” She was still smiling. I knew where she was going with this. “I don`t like him. He is so annoying.” I got defensive. She giggled. “He is baiting you. If you don`t like him then just ignore him.” “I will.” “Shame. He is quite handsome.” “Do you think so?” “Don`t you?” “I suppose he`s attractive.” “He keeps looking over at you.” “He does not!” I flushed. She laughed even more. “Don`t look. It will drive him crazy.” She winked at me. “I don`t want to drive him crazy!” We both giggled at this. “He`s looking over at you again.” I couldn`t help but smile. “Stop it.” “I am not making him do it! He`s coming over here.” We both busied ourselves with our food. I felt the back of my neck burning as I felt him approach. “Enettu.” “Yes, Glinn Damar?” I used my innocent voice as I looked up into his face. “Gul Jemal has requested that you overhaul the whole sensor array starting tomorrow.” “Like I told you today but you ignored?” Odoja giggled again. Glinn Damar looked at her through squinted eyes. “It seems so.” It sounded as if he forced the words out against his will. “Is there anything else?” “No. Enjoy your dinner Ladies.” “Thank you.” Pipped in Odoja. “Thank you.” I said sweetly. He nodded to us both and left for his table. We both burst into giggles. “He likes you.”
Fortunately, my writer's block is mild, meaning that I write, but very little (normally I write with warp speed ). I certainly hope that my Cardassians are not creepy At least, not all of them Since you mentioned that you are romantic, I would even have a recommendation of one of my shorter things that I wrote for a "love challenge" here in AdAstra a few months ago, but you can't receive PMs yet, so I have to wait a few days before sending you the link. And now...off to read this block of text above without spaces between paragraphs Edit: Oh, my, it looks almost like secondary school and teenagers I can't help but wonder how much of that bickering is the Cardassian "courting" and how much real bickering...if any at all
It is so highschool! I think that the two young women came straight from a female environment into a mixed one. They have to rely a lot on what they have heard about and not any real experiences.
Sorry about the spacing. My wordprocessor is crappy and I am even crappier with things like that. The next block of text will be spaced accordingly.
Not too bad. I'm actually interested in what a Cardassian thinks, unlike most of their TV appearances.