AN: I don't own the characters from ST:DS9 only Marek and the few oc characters I have named in here are mine.
(Human star date 48620.3 an hour after Tain's message to central command)
The Traglar (pronounced Trag'lar) was ordered to patrol the federation border her present position was six light years from Celtris current speed warp six; she was an older vessel of the Galor class and one of the first of the original production of the class.
The ship had been fostered off on to the ninth order because of supply shortages. She was old and due a refit or a recycler, but the ninth order was not one of the two prised orders so she was quite far down on both lists.
Gul Marek (pronounced Ma'rek) was a tall broad Cardassian whose looks mirrored both is older cousins Dukat and Macet; he was a very reserved man and rarely had to raise his voice, he followed his orders to the letter but never took pleasure in the dirty tasks he preformed, he hated men who took pleasure in needless brutality witch put him at odds with his more famous cousin, though he got on quite well with Macet, he was a man of honour and conviction.
As entered the engineering he was assaulted by a blast of steam and cascades of sparks, raised voices and curses were flung around like they were going out of style, he was met by his chief engineer Glinn Dak he was dirty with oily muck covering his face and brown uniform. The tool belt that was clung across his chest was old brown leather and very beat up, his tools where old and worn,
"Sir" he stood at attention the tools jangled as he stood ramrod straight, he was an older officer who had a number of years experience and he needed them to keep this bucket air sealed and moving.
"What is it Dak" he asked "what is so important that you feel the need to call me down here" he was in the middle of creating a list of needed parts again
"Sir we have a major problem" Marek had to force himself not to roll his eyes, another major problem the next in a long, long list of them.
"What is it this time?" last month it was a phase converter the month before it was an Driver coil, Glinn Dak motioned for him to follow him until they reached a computer panel he inputted a few requests into the computer system and the Cardassian emblem vanished to show an external of the Traglar with a red bleeping icon on a section of the main impulse drive and various red warning signs
"Sir last month I put in a request form for a replacement Impulse Manifold" he said showing a copy of the form on a pad he pulled from a pouch on his tool belt giving Marek the pad he continued "I signed in triplicate with urgency and a high priority signature"
"You went through the right channels?" he asked Dak nodded "I don't see the problem you should have received the parts then"
"That's just the thing sir I received this" he tapped down on the pad Marek was holding "Cannot supply part requisitioned denied" Marek looked at the pad with fury in his eyes "sir I don't want to speak out of turn but this is ridiculous I know parts are in short supply but how are we meant to follow orders if our ships cannot move outside of warp"
Ma'rek nodded
"Take this down Dak" Dak fumbled with a data pad and styles to take dictation "Subject, resupply of needed parts. One: this vessel submitted a requisition for a new or refurbished Impulse Manifold. The requisition was returned with stamped notation, ' cannot supply part requisitioned denied.' Two: the commanding officer of the CDS Traglar cannot help but wonder what is being used at the Supply Depot as a substitute for this part once so well known to this command." He paused for Dak to finish then continued "further more any performance deviations of my vessel or inability to perform at peak efficiency I will be sending every complaint to your door" he paused again "I will also be sending a complaint to the supply Legate: signed Gul Marek ninth order first battalion" Dak nodded before Marek turned on his heal squared his shoulders and left.
He walked the long corridor to the bridge of his ship passing engineers who were fixing faults and generally making sure that the chewing gum and string that held the ship together didn't fly apart at warp speed, there equipment was so old they were still using the old brown uniform that should have been out of circulation a decade ago, and engineering tools that needed to be replaced a year ago.
The heavy bulkhead doors to the bridge rolled open the cog like doors teeth were buckled with age screeched as the buckled metal locked into place, as he entered the bridge crew stood to attention
"as you were" he said as he approached the command chair and sat heavily on the black leather he picked up a pad that was resting on the arm it was the schematics of the Keldon class ship, the new ship in production with improved armour shielding and weapons, he wanted one since he saw the design a few years ago but being in the ninth order meant that you never got any new ships just refits of old ones, and it was unlikely that they would get any in the next five years.
Equipment shortages were common in the union with many orders not resaving or running out of much needed supplies, but not with the first or second orders they always seemed to have the right equipment exactly when they needed it often at the detriment of other orders, it was one of the few things he envied his older cousin, Dukat had his pick of ships and crews and all the supplies he could need.
"Commander we are receiving a level omega coded message from central command" said the communication operator Garresh Destak, he was a good hand to have and in a few years would make an acceptable Gul maybe even a Legate if his dreams were that high, and a code omega had to be important it was the highest coded frequency the union had.
"On screen" he said turning his chair to look at the main viewer the star field immediately changed to show the Cardassian military emblem then an office in the central command and the commander of the ninth order the very large Legate Bokar "sir" he acknowledged his superior he was a good commander who studied logistics as well as tactics, and he unlike many of the ninth order was wearing the black type b uniform that was now the standard issue for all orders.
"You have a change of orders Marek your ship is being rerouted to the Omekla system you are to investigate what the Obsidian Order has been up to in that system" said the fat Cardassian as he leaned back in his chair Marek could hear the straining metal as he did so "I'll have three more ships enroot to the system they are about three hours out but you are the closest, if anyone gives you any trouble ignore them and defer them to me"
"Sir my ship is in no way ready to take into full combat it's why I was given border patrol"
"I'm not asking you to fight Marek"
"With respect sir Gul Dukat and the second order has been sniffing around that system for weeks, he is more than likely already on his way there and if I know my cousin, he more than likely has a small fleet with him"
Bokar seemed to smile slightly at his junior officers incite
"Yes, he does have a few ships with him" Marek grit his teeth slightly as Bokar spoke with a smug grin "he left an hour ago with two other ships" Marek felt his hand clench slightly, in truth it was more of a twitch but the momentary loss of control felt much greater in his mind "but he is still a long way out and your reinforcements should arrive before his dose"
"Yes sir" he replied orders were orders and best not questioned too much, as the screen cut out showing the Cardassian emblem then once again back to the star field "helm set coarse for the Omekla system maximum velocity" the helm officer nodded his fingers moving with precision of a pianist.
He knew as did the majority of the military that something was going on there, the second order where ran off by someone and there were rumours that Legate Taral of the first order had done it, but he had heard others that said the obsidian order had but that would have been breaching there charter.
He was at maximum warp and an hour from the system, using the time to run a diagnostic on the port disrupter array it had been giving off random energy spikes making the array and any discharge dangerously unstable.
Marek's comm. beeped twice before he answered it
"Marek" he said leaning forward slightly his right arm resting on his leg, his left arm almost at his face.
"Sir we've had to take the port disrupter off line the eps relay has given out and we have no replacement" Marek's head dropped slightly one more for the list he thought.
"Very well see if you can salvage it" he said before ending the transmission, he brought his hands over his face arms resting on his elbows and sighed into his hands another setback and another set of requisitions to fill out, in triplicate.
"Sir" said the navigator Gorr Torak, Marek sat back in his chair
"Yes"
"We are approaching the Omekla system" Marek nodded
"Drop us out of warp" the officer complied almost immediately.
The ship dropping out of warp just outside the system its engine spluttering smoke and fluctuating energy wildly forcing them to go at lower impulse rate, They began scanning of the system and after about a half hour they saw it, and what they saw astonished them, there hidden in orbit of the third planet from most scans they were running was the largest space station and fleet ship yards they had ever seen, dwarfing the Monac ship yards by a large factor, which were previously held to be the largest in the union. It was like spiders webs all spiralling out from an ore processing station.
And it seemed that a few ships were still there twelve Galor class two Keldon and fifteen Hideki class. All looked brand new and there seemed to be births for ship much larger than any known Cardassian ship.
"Open comm. system" he ordered, with loud beep the comm. system opened "this is Gul Marek of the ninth order respond" after a few moments of no contact "Respond or we will board the station" again nothing
"Torak take us to the main station, best speed"
The ship moved at one quarter impulse its engines flaring and smoking as it moved into docking position on the main station.
Inside the inertia dampeners where working hard to stop the engine vibrations but to no avail the crew were jostled around like they were standing amid a minor tremor the shaking finally stopped when the ship cut its engines and maundered to docked.
Marek rose to his feet when the shaking stopped and helped crewmen up who had fallen over, the ship had properly docked and made hard seal
"Marek to all hands secure ship any injured crew to med bay all others to the armoury"
He had made sure every crew man was armed and ordered the majority of the security teams to sweep and secure the station, he took two with him to the main transporter room to secure the command operations section and the rest of the crew that were still on the ship were to secure the ship so nothing would get on without him knowing.
Once the station was secure the crew still on the ship were to disembark making sure to shut down all systems and wait for further orders.
(Command operations section (Opps))
The last of the amber lights died away as Marek and his men materialised from the transporter, he swept the Opps centre for anything with his disrupter rifle after a moment he slung the weapon to his back with the sling. He motioned for the men come with him, one took position at the security station and the other at the main science station but before they could access the main computer the main viewer came to life.
"This is Enabran Tain head of the Obsidian Order, by now the combined fleet should have made it to the home world of the founders and destroyed it, I had told the head of the Tal'Shiar that the station and ship yards had been set to explode leaving no trace of us to be found... I lied" the fat Cardassian was looking overly smug "I made the Romulans believe that I had destroyed all evidence of our being here and used their own sensors against them making them believe I had completely destroyed the station yard"
That could be why we could barely detect the yards even given the vast size of them, he wondered what Tain had used to fool the Romulans, Marek didn't like Tain he had made his cousin the man he is today. But now at least one mystery had been solved the larger berths were for Romulan War Birds.
"The technology we have gained from the Romulans should move us one step closer to our goal, to take our rightful place amongst the super powers of the alpha quadrant"
Then the screen went dead, Marek was not sure how to proceed he had been given one of the keys to the future of the union by a man who had attacked his family and killed his uncle.
"Sir Security teams report that the station is abandoned, and long range sensors report that there are five ships of Galor class four that are half an hour away and three that are two hours away, there markings show that they are ninth and second order vessels, the scans are more detailed than any I have ever seen sir you can practically count the number of panels on the hull" said Gorr Dumak looking up from the computer screen
"Sir Traglar reports that the ship is fully shut down the warp core is deactivated and the crew are disembarking and awaiting orders" said the other security crew man Gorr Garma
Marek looked over the ships that were docked at the station and selected one; yes he had wanted a Keldon for years now this would be his chance to grab one.
"Tell them to take command of the Keldon on" he looked down at the computer "secondary ring upper pylon twelve get the ship online and prepare for guests, I want the security teams to run inventory I want a full accounting of the supplies and anything else of interest here"
Gorr Garma nodded and relayed the message, Marek moved up to the commander's office the doors whirred open, on the desk was a kotra board, more than likely Tain's it seemed a most one sided game, like master playing a novice, he assumed that it was Tain that was winning. He saw in the corner a storage container cautiously he moved toward it, it was capsule shaped and had a simple locking mechanism, and a dull brown in colour, it popped open to reveal several black Cardassian uniforms with no markings, battalion patches or identifying insignia, right at the bottom was a black box that was allot heavier than it looked he placed it on the desk and opened it, inside were a collection of every insignia for every order and battalion in the union.
He immediately changed out of his out of date and uncomfortable brown uniform, the heavy padding did nothing for comfort, and gave nothing by way of protection, and into the black one, the under suit was a lot tighter than he thought it would be but not too tight, the boots were surprisingly comfortable and the armour was form fitting and made him look even larger than he actually is, the uniform had the benefit of protecting the torso from all but the heaviest settings on weapons, he picked through the small box and found a ninth order emblem and pinned it to the armour.
He straitened the armoured chest plate grabbed his disrupter pistol and hooked it onto his new belt holster, he then grabbed his disrupter rifle slung the sling over his right arm then holding the disrupter barrel down hand on the top he grabbed two uniforms and then moved to the door
"Dumak, Garma" he called out as he exited the office, they looked up from there stations only to see their black uniform clad commander, he had in his left hand black material and two heavy chest pieces that he put on the floor by the steps, they were stunned for a moment as they looked at the black uniform "your out of uniform get dressed" he said the two nodded approached him and took the uniforms to the office.
The uniform felt good, it aloud movement without the restrictive padding, and it was allot lighter, he felt good like a real Cardassian Gul, but it did feel strange to have such little padding and the armoured chest piece would take some getting used to; the beep of his wrist communicator took him out of his momentary contemplation.
"Marek" he said holding his communicator at chest height marvelling once again at the restriction free movement
"Sir" came the rough voice of his head of security and tactical officer Dalin Tak, he was a gruff looking man with a perpetual scowl "I had some men cheque the cargo holds as ordered and it appears that some of the supplies are Romulan"
"Yes Tak I know, what do we have down there" a few seconds later the rough voice began again
"Fifteen cases of uniforms containing roughly fifteen hundred type B uniforms absent battalion patch and order insignia, two hundred and fifty cases of disrupter pistols and rifles twelve..." Marek interrupted him
"Take a case of uniforms to secondary ring upper pylon twelve and tell the men to get into uniform"
"Yes sir"
"You as well Tak" he said after a moment's contemplation
"Yes sir"
"Continue"
Tak went into detail of the number of parts and supplies that the cargo holds along with a surplus of Romulan weapons and equipment and one or two patches and emblems form the Tal Shiar, there was enough equipment to resupply two orders and then some, as he finished Marek contemplated his next move he had a little time to play with before the rest of the ninth order ships arrived.
"Tak you and a team are to report to Opps the rest of your men are to continue inventory"
"Yes sir" the comm. line bleeped signifying that the communication had been terminated
"Open a channel to Legate Bokar top priority maximum scramble code"
"Yes sir"
It took a few minutes for the signal to reach Cardassia and a little longer for Bokar to answer
"Marek I trust you have something we can use"
"yes sir" said Marek a slight smile curving his list "while conducting the investigation as ordered we found a ship yards here, and they are the largest I've ever seen dwarfing even the Monac yards all centred around an ore processing station" Bokar's eyes widened "the technology here is an amalgam of Romulan and our own, I'm sending you the details and the full list of supplies now"
His computer bleeped, he turned his head and his eyes began to scan the file sent
"By all the gods" Bokar whispered in sheer astonishment his eyes drinking in the information "there are enough supplies here to equip two orders have you secured them?"
"Yes sir the station is secure, and I have claimed a Keldon class ship as my own and will be transferring my flag to it"
"Impertinent, very impertinent but this once I will allow it; once your reinforcements arrive you are to go straight to here for new orders"
"Yes sir"
"Bokar out"
The screen showed the Cardassian military emblem then went dead. Marek looked at his two junior officers who were trying to get comfortable in their new uniforms adjusting the boots and the torso armour. Only to be interrupted by the whirring sound of the turbo lift.
"Sir reporting as ordered" said Tak looking slightly intimidating in his new uniform
"Good were going to be receiving visitors soon we need to be ready" he tapped his wrist communicator opening a channel "Dak is the ship operational" he asked
"Yes sir" came the reply "the warp core is operational and all systems are performing above expected parameters"
"Good"
Over the next half an hour they combed through the computer systems and calibrated the weapons systems just in case.
"Sir" Said Tak "the ninth order ships have entered communications range" Marek nodded
"Open communications channel to the lead ship" he said as he moved to the main station at the centre of Opps
"Yes sir"
A moment later the main viewing screen came to life
"This is Gul Marek of the ninth order to commander incoming ninth order flotilla respond" he spoke with authoritarian steel in his voice,
"This is Gul Macet of the ninth" he spoke as the viewer projected an near identical face to Marek's own his voice was nonchalant but still had an undercurrent of steel "I have orders to help investigate this sector am I to take it that the mystery is solved"
"Yes, yes it is, good to see you again Macet" the man on screen nodded slightly in acknowledgement
"And you Marek"
"I'm sending you coordinates" he said as he pointed to Tak "contact me when you are in visual range" Macet nodded again and the screen cut out, he turned to look at Garma "prepare a docking pylon for them and get them whatever supplies they need"
"Yes sir upper pylon three is online now"
"Sir we are receiving communications channel from Gul Macet"
"On screen"
"Well you seem to have found yourself quite the discovery here Marek" he said slight amusement hidden beneath astonishment
"Yes I have, upper pylon 3 online for you to dock"
"Very well I'll have my ships run a quick patrol I will see you in person in a few minutes" the screen once again cut out as Marek turned to Garma
"I want you to meet Macet and bring him to the command office here" he said as he ascended the stairs, it had been a while since he had seen Macet in person, the doors to the office whirred open and he entered.
He sat on the soft leather chair; it was larger than a normal chair and very comfortable, he looked at the Kotra board again and could only see two moves left to Tain's presumed opponent surrender or an all out attack and chance a victory or total defeat.
He sat back in the chair and wheeled it around to the window, the view from the window was not spectacular just a view of the pylons that spread out like a spiders web. Only two ships were visible in his imitate view two Galor class ships vibrant in there desert yellow colour.
They were in there own way beautiful mused Marek
He was taken out of his musings by a beep of the door chime; he swung the chair around to face the table and the door
"Enter" he called and the door whirred open, and in stepped Macet in his padded brown uniform and light helmet, he looked around the room then nodded
"Very nice" he said as he sat across from his younger cousin "so what is going on" he asked
"Well I'm sure you know that something has been going on here for a while Dukat" he saw Macet's left ridge twitch slightly "was warned off from this sector by someone, that someone being the Obsidian Order"
"So those weren't just roomers"
"No they weren't, as it turns out they have broken one of the fundamental tenants of their charter, by using military equipment and they were not alone" a glimmer of intrigue flashed in the eyes of Gul Macet "it seems that a Romulan faction also helped them I am unsure who though there are several indications that it may have been the Tal Shiar"
For a moment neither spoke as Marek let Macet take in the information, he could see that he was a little shocked and didn't know how to quite articulate it.
"Unbelievable" Macet said "what could have motivated the Order to brake there charter and ally with the Romulans" he said disbelief colouring his voice
"Apparently Tain can be quite convincing" Said
"What" he shouted "Tain was supposed to have retired and stepped down from the Order!" he roared as he sprung to his feet, a surprising accomplishment given that uniform he was wearing "that conniving backstabbing wretch"
"I take it you're not a fan" Marek said mildly
"No I am not" he spat in rage "your too young to know what that fat bastard did and don't have the clearance for me to outright tell you, but what he did cost us in lives and equipment so much so we are still feeling it now"
"Then why wasn't he dealt with" Marek asked
"He moved quicker than anyone thought and managed to foster the blame onto our uncle Procal and then when that wasn't enough he then fostered it onto his own protégé and lead interrogator Gul Garak who himself had managed to 'convince' our uncle to confess to the crime"
Marek knew some of the story from over herd parental conisation and what had been allowed to be seen in the central information network. Macet walked to look out the window his head bowed of a moment before he turned and continued.
"Garak was exiled for his crime and uncle Procal was executed" he said "but the central command had been briefed on what had really happened by the commanders in the field and several civilian witnesses he was asked to leave by the central command because they were unable to execute him"
Marek nodded knowing that Tain must have had allot of political capital and blackmail material stored somewhere that let the man walk out on his own execution trial.
"What orders do you have Marek" he asked sitting back down having vented allot of anger
"I'm to report back to Cardassia Prime once we see off Dukat and the second order"
Macet nodded
"I will accompany you then, once my ship is put in order of course" Marek nodded
"I have ordered my men to help you with any supplies needed"
"I noticed when I arrived that there was increased discharge of plasma energy" he said knowingly "how are your engines Marek"
"Fine Akellen just fine" he said using his cousin's first name
"That's not what my sensors say Torren" he smiled slightly at Mareks discomfort with his first name
"Yes I would imagine that they showed the Traglar in quite a state" Macet nodded with a smile again
"Indeed" he said
"Thankfully I have moved my flag to the Keldon powering up as we speak"
"I thought as much" he said straitening his uniform trying in vain to get some comfort "I am a little too attached to the Trager to give her up just yet" he said with a smile.
"You look uncomfortable cousin" said Marek looking at his cousin squirm slightly in discomfort "I have uniform changes if you want one" he said pointing to the capsule shaped container
"Thank you" he said getting up
He walked over and grabbed one uniform and stepped out into the abandoned hall a few minutes later he walked back in, in full black uniform looking the very spitting image of Gul Dukat except for one thing he was one of the few Cardassians in the military that had grown facial hair, that alone was enough to distinguish him from there more infamous cousin.
"You look good" he said as Macet pulled down on the black torso armour
"It will take a little getting used too" he said twisting and bending "its strange not being limited by the padding" Marek nodded it was a little weird