Author's Notes: Be sure to go back to part 1 and read it through, I've replaced the previous version with a longer, more complete version. Thank you to all my reviewers! I hope I continue to please.
Two – Honor and Betrayal
I looked myself over in the mirror, cringing at the bruises that were fresh, and the ones that were beginning to yellow already. I lifted an arm and was immediately sorry I had, greeted with the stench of a filthy uniform drenched with sweat from the stress of the previous day. Looking at myself in the mirror, it was hard to believe that I'd only been held captive for one day. There was a noticeable layer of grunge on my skin and hair, but I was in no way interested in trusting the sonic shower we'd been provided.
Brendan was an entirely different story. He had been up long before I awoke, and he looked much cleaner than he had been the day before. It made sense, though, he was more foolhardy than I, and he was also injured. He needed to keep his wounds clean.
I ran my hands through my hair to get as many tangles out as I could, braiding it in tiny braids as I went so that it would be more manageable. About halfway through doing this, I stopped, and began laughing at myself for doing it. Manageable for what? I thought, shaking my head, Oh yes, I don't want my hair in my face when they kill me.
I sat down by the table and stared out the window, watching the stars go by. I guessed that we were halfway to Cardassia, if not closer. I was unsure how long we'd been on the Reunion before we'd been attacked, how far from Earth we'd managed to get. Had I fallen asleep? Had I slept? How long had I been unconscious from the time I'd been taken from the Reunion?
My stomach growled. At almost the exact same time, Brendan smashed something in the bathroom. I stood up and cautiously peered through the open door, and saw him hunched over the sink, the mirror above him shattered. Glass falling around him. "Brendan?" I asked. He turned around, and I gasped.
"What, Delia, what do you want?" he growled. I stared at him, wide-eyed. His face wasn't the face I was so accustomed to. It wasn't human.
"What did they do to you?" I asked, "You look- I mean, you-" I couldn't form the words I was trying to find.
"Are you trying to say I look Cardassian?" he hissed, "Well, if you can't tell, I've noticed." He slammed his fist into the wall, denting the door frame.
Behind me, I heard the door to our quarters, our glorified holding cell, whoosh open. I whipped around to see who was there. The first to enter our room was Gilly. I knelt down to greet her as she ran in. Shortly behind her, Weyoun entered, and the door closed behind him. I made out the silhouettes of at least three Jem'Hadar soldiers on the other side of the door before it closed.
"Ah, Delia, I trust you slept well?" Weyoun asked, clapping his hands together as he approached. Before I could utter even a syllable, Brendan charged out of the bathroom, pinning Weyoun to the wall.
"What have you done to me?" he shouted. The door opened again, and two Jem'Hadar entered the room, their guns trained on the back of Brendan's head. Weyoun raised a hand, gesturing for the Jem'Hadar to back off.
"You aren't happy with our modifications?" Weyoun asked, a look of concern on his face, "I would have thought you would be happy to look more like your brothers on Cardassia." Brendan punched the wall, inches from the side of Weyoun's head.
"I am not a Cardassian. I am human," he growled, "I am nothing like the Cardassians." Weyoun beckoned the Jem'Hadar forward to pull him away.
"Oh, but it would appear that you are exactly like the other Cardassians," Weyoun retorted. Once the Jem'Hadar had Brendan properly restrained, Weyoun brushed his shoulders off and approached me. "Have you thought over our offer, Delia?"
"I have," I replied.
"Well then, have you come to a decision?"
"I have."
"Now, before you tell me, I want to urge you to consider all possible outcomes. Think of your father, the Engineer. He's around many dangerous things every day, isn't he?" Weyoun asked, coming close enough that he could have been slow dancing with me.
"Are you threatening me?" I asked. Weyoun's expression changed, he looked hurt.
"What? Oh, no, no. I'm merely suggesting that if you were to decide to do as we ask, we could offer protection to your family. Your mother, for instance, she'll be leaving Bajor soon, correct?"
"How do you know any of this?" I asked. Weyoun shook his head.
"You honestly believe that we do not have sources throughout the Federation? Let me put it this way, if a baby sneezes on Earth, we know about it."
My heart sank. My own safety was one thing, but I couldn't be responsible for my family being put in harm's way. "Delia, don't you do it," Brendan said, breaking through my thoughts. I looked up at him, as did Weyoun. "You know what the Federation does to traitors."
"The Dominion will always have a place for you and your family if you accept our offer, which is really quite generous," Weyoun interjected.
I sank to the floor, leaning against the wall. "I..." I started, unsure of my words. Weyoun leaned down, maintaining intense eye contact with me. "I was all ready to say no, and accept death, as I assumed that would be the obvious next step of the Dominion..."
"Now, now, I can assure you we have no intentions of harming you or our friend here."
"No, we're far too valuable of prisoners!" Brendan roared, "And when they've extracted all of the information they can from us, they'd dump us in some desolate corner of the Gamma Quadrant to rot for eternity!" One of the Jem'Hadar which held him knocked him over the head with the butt of his gun, a sharp crack to the back of the skull. He slumped forward, limp in their arms. I shrieked.
Weyoun put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry you had to see that, but it is obvious that he is trying to decide for you. Now, I will ask one last time, and you need only say yes or no. Will you accept our offer? The Founders' offer?"
I held my head in my hands. If I accept, I will likely be directly responsible for the deaths of many members of the Federation, of Starfleet. If I say no, they'll likely kill my family, and I'll be a prisoner. What do I do? I thought, morose.
Each time I glanced up as I thought, Weyoun wore an expression of irritation, an expression that increased in severity over time. "Well?" he asked, after I'd been silent for what seemed to have been hours, though couldn't have been much more than ten minutes.
"If I agree," I asked, hesitantly, "my family, Brendan, Gilly, won't be harmed?" A sly grin spread across Weyoun's face.
"You have my word," he cooed. I sighed at the hopelessness of the situation.
"I'll do it," I said, my voice hoarse, defeated. Weyoun clapped his hands together.
"Splendid. The Founders will be pleased." I hung my head in shame. "We have much to do, to prepare before we reach Cardassia. You will have to be briefed, of course, on your mission, and, oh isn't this wonderful?" Weyoun stood straight once more and said something to the Jem'Hadar that I didn't hear.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Brendan's limp body tossed carelessly on the bed. I felt positively ill. Weyoun approached me once more. "You'll want to eat before we reach Cardassia. The... substances... that they call food... aren't exactly all that appetizing." I nodded slightly to show that I acknowledged what he'd said. "Once you've eaten, I want you to come and see me. Just open the door and the Jem'Hadar outside will know where to take you. All right?"
"Okay," I said, my voice barely a whisper.
Within seconds, the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta had left the room, and I was alone with Brendan and my thoughts. Tears flooded my eyes and fell like rain down the front of my uniform. Terrified of the situation I was in, the decision I'd made; terrified of the fact that I was surrounded by people who'd sooner shoot me than look at me. I cried.
Once I had regained my composure, I slowly stood up and crossed the room to the tiny bathroom provided to us. In the shards of the mirror that still hung above the sink, I looked at my face. My eyes were red and puffy, my cheeks swollen. I looked, as my mother would have said, like hell. I turned on the water and splashed my face. I sighed again, and walked back out into the main room.
I could hear Brendan stirring, he would likely awaken soon. And when he did, I was terrified of his reaction. Weighing my options, I decided that having some breakfast and then meeting with Weyoun would be the less painful of my two options.
I went to the replicator. It was your basic replication unit, so it didn't take long for me to figure out how to operate it. I ordered a raktajino and a bowl of chocolate-flavored hot cereal. It didn't matter, though, as everything tasted like cardboard to me. I ate it as quickly as possible and got up.
Smoothing my uniform, I opened the door, just as Brendan lifted his head, groaning. I stepped out quickly, despite my fear of the Jem'Hadar. I was grateful that the one posted outside our door merely pointed out where I was to go. The last thing I needed was another bruise from the butt of a rifle. I walked as slowly as I could, trying to memorize every little detail of the ship that I passed.
When I arrived at the room that the Jem'Hadar had pointed out to me, I took a deep breath and hit the door control. It opened so quickly that I had barely let my arm fall back to my side. "Come in, come in," Weyoun called. I quickly recognized the room in which I'd first met him. This time, however, the room was essentially empty, save for a single chair in the center, and the Vorta who stood at the window, watching the stars go by.
I stood just inside the door, shifting my weight uneasily. Weyoun turned around and greeted me with what appeared to be a warm smile, but I was beginning to see that there was more to this man than what met the eye. "Oh, where are my manners, please, come in. Come sit." He gestured to the chair in the center of the room.
"Okay," I murmured, and made my way over to the chair.
"Now, I'm just going to go over your basic itinerary for the next few weeks. Just so you're comfortable." The way he said comfortable made my skin crawl. Somehow I just knew that I would not have a pleasant experience on Cardassia Prime.
"Once we arrive, you'll be taken and processed, they'll sample your DNA, take one of your teeth, verify your general mental and physical health."
"One of my teeth?" I repeated, then clasped my hands across my mouth.
"It has to be done. You know, for the Cardassians. Now, the Founders trust that you will not betray us, but the Cardassians, they're less trusting. And who can blame them?" Weyoun explained, acting as though he understood the fear I was sure he could see in my eyes. I nodded, more out of defeat than agreement.
"What happens then?" I asked, my voice shaking.
"You'll be briefed completely on your mission, and you'll be trained on a few key elements of your mission. And, in a week or two, when we are sure that you understand everything you'll need to in order to successfully carry out this mission."
"And what if I fail?" I asked. This was the sentence I was most afraid to utter. Weyoun's gaze was suddenly fierce, and a frown marred his face.
"If you fail, the Founders will surely punish you severely." His expression returned to one of neutrality, a small smile pulling up the corners of his lips. "But we won't have to worry about that, now, will we?"
I hope not, I thought, and shook my head. Weyoun came closer to where I was seated and knelt down in front of me. He put his hand on my shoulder and made that terrible eye-contact. "I understand that this has been difficult for you, Miss Grissom, I really do. And I want you to know that the Dominion really does value your cooperation. If there is anything we can do for you, please, be sure to bring it to our attention and we will be sure to try to fulfill your requests," he said, being careful to enunciate each word.
"Um, thank you," I said. Weyoun stood up and offered me his hand to me. It took a moment to register that he wanted me to stand up. I accepted his help and stood.
"We should be arriving at Cardassia Prime within the next few hours. I do hope you will understand and comply with our wishes that you remain in your quarters until we arrive." I nodded solemnly. "Good, good. And remember, if you need anything, anything at all, do not hesitate to ask the guard stationed outside your quarters. All right?" I nodded again, and before I could protest, I was whisked away by a Jem'Hadar and dropped off at the door to the room I shared with Brendan.
I cringed as I opened the door. I was startled by the darkness I was greeted by, but before I could order the computer to turn on the lights, I was grabbed and pulled into the black. "What exactly do you think you're doing?" a gruff voice, Brendan's, asked.
"Trying to survive," I replied, trying to wrench myself away from his grasp. He apparently didn't like this answer, as he pulled me closer to him, snaking his other arm around behind my head and pulling me. Our faces were close enough that our noses touched, and I couldn't see him in the dark.
"They are the enemy, Delia." I struggled. "And now it would seem that you are the enemy." I managed to free one of my hands and slapped him, the sound of my hand making contact with his skin echoing through the dark room. He caught my hand too late, and twisted it behind my back. I howled in pain.
"You want to know suffering, Delia? You little girl, you think you're a martyr? You know what happened to my mother?" I shook my head. "No one does. She was on one of the ships that disappeared in the Gamma Quadrant. These- these animals killed her!"
"I'm so sorry, Brendan, I didn't know-"
"Of course you didn't, Delia, your life's so perfect," he spat, "your family's safe. You've always had both your parents. And you're so willing to just endanger them like this? Are you thinking you can just get to DS9 and tell Captain Sisko what's going on? Because the Dominion will protect against that. You'll get an implant in your head and if you even think about revealing the fact that you're a spy, you'll die. I bet you didn't prepare for that!"
He pulled me along and threw me down on the bed. I scrambled to crawl across it, putting as much space between myself and him. Something wasn't right. I'd never seen him so militant, so angry and physical. He grabbed my ankle and pulled me back, pinning me below him, his hands on my wrists so that I couldn't move. "Brendan, what are you doing?" I asked.
"Well, if you're going to be so quick to succumb to the will of others, I may as well cash in."
"Brendan, what are-"
"Don't play innocent, Delia. You drove me to this." I felt his breath on my neck, followed by his lips, his tongue.
"Brendan, don't do this," I begged, my mind racing, "you're better than your Cardassian genes, please don't do this!"
"Oh, but Delia, Cardassian I am," he replied, unzipping the front of my uniform shirt as he shifted my arms above my head, holding them both down with one hand. I was simply astonished by his strength. When I'd seen him the previous day, beaten and battered as he'd been, I wouldn't have thought that he would have the muscle mass required to hold me so completely against my will.
"This is what my race does, isn't it?" he demanded, his voice growing louder and louder. I struggled against him, begging and pleading for him not to do what I could tell he was about to. He slapped me, choked me. I eventually stopped fighting it, and instead retreated into a place in my brain where it was almost as though I could see what was happening to my body from the outside.
Even then, I couldn't completely escape the scene of my own rape.
When we arrived on Cardassia Prime, I avoided Brendan as much as was possible when the Jem'Hadar and Weyoun tried very hard to keep us together, presumably to make it easier to kill us should we try to escape. We were brought to a building which must have housed the Cardassian Central Command. It all looked very official, the architecture just screamed "Government!" in my opinion.
Though I wasn't restrained in any way, I felt as though I were shackled and chained, being taken to my own execution. I figured that they probably felt that, because I was willingly going to be an informant, I was no longer a flight risk. Brendan, on the other hand, who was looking more and more like a full-blooded Cardassian by the minute, was shackled, chained, and, at the request of Weyoun when he wouldn't stop hollering that I was a traitor and that he was going to kill us all, gagged.
We were led into a central chamber of the building where we would meet evil incarnate. I could taste the bile my stomach was spitting as Gul Dukat himself turned around to greet us.
"Well, well, well, if I had to guess, I'd say that neither of you are over the age of 21. Good job, Weyoun, we tell you to bring back officers and you snatch them up from the school yard!"
"I followed the Founders' orders, not yours, Dukat," Weyoun spat, "Besides, young minds are easier to mold. And it's not exactly as though your son was the captain of a starship." I heard a confused sound escape Brendan. I sniffed. His problems aren't my problems anymore, I thought, Soon they'll separate us and I'll be able to put him out of my mind for good.
"Well, may I ask why exactly he's bound and gagged like a prisoner? It was my understanding that he was to be treated like what he is, like the son of the most powerful Cardassian alive!"
"Brendan's your son?" I blurted. Everyone in the room looked at me.
Dukat walked around the desk he stood behind and glared down at me. It was frightening just how intimidating he was in person. I stepped back, cowering. He laughed, "Weyoun, don't tell me this is going to be your informant on Deep Space Nine," he spat the words as though they left a bad taste in his mouth, "She's hardly even a woman. They'll crack her without any complication."
"The Founder gave me very specific instructions and criteria. She's non-threatening, and it will work to our advantage. When she's found, adrift in space, they won't think twice about whether or not she was planted out there for them to find. And since she was already destined to be on Deep Space Nine, it's all the more likely for her to remain there!"
Dukat walked over to Brendan and removed the gag. "How does it feel to be back on Cardassia Prime, my son?" he asked. Brendan stood there, staring at him, mouth hanging open.
"There's no way, it's not possible, I don't believe it. You're not my father. My mother always said that my father was a good man who opposed the occupation on Bajor, and that he had been-"
"Ah, yes, and it is impossible for people to make up stories in order to avoid the uncomfortable truth, isn't it?" Dukat smiled an evil smile. Brendan snarled.
"It can't be true!" he screamed. Dukat's smile turned vicious, and his hand connected with Brendan's face with an ear-splitting smack.
"I will have none of this. You will be held here, in the city, until you have come to terms with the inescapable fact that you and I are family, and your mother was merely an... innocent... who got caught up in the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor."
"When were humans ever involved in the occupation, Dukat?" I hissed, my voice escaping me before I could stop myself. His fierce gaze turned back to me, eyes sparkling.
"I can see why you chose her, Weyoun. She may look small and pathetic, but she sure does have some fight to her." He leaned back against the desk and eyed me, thoughtfully. "No, I suppose that wouldn't be something they teach in your Federation schools, would it? The failed 'liberation force' of less than ten ships. We squashed them like bugs. Only a few survived. Gina Tarr was one of the lucky survivors. I kept her on as my personal slave for more than four years. I can only guess that she was smuggled off the planet by one of the underground resistance cells. I didn't find out about you until years later, on a visit to Cardassia Prime. There she was, arguing with a legate, no less, over the alleged crimes we had committed, I had committed, against her while she was in my care. She had with her a small boy. A rather handsome lad, aside from a few unfortunate human features." He spat the word human as though it left a sour taste in his mouth.
"You're lying," Brendan said, holding his head high. Gul Dukat sighed as his gaze shifted back to Brendan.
"In time, you will find you know it to be true."
He paced back around behind the desk. "Even if you don't believe me, if you never believe me, I will never allow any son of mine to serve the Federation, especially beneath Benjamin Sisko."