All That You Can't Leave Behind

Life on Terok Nor is hard, and the Cardassian oppressors aren't the only enemy. Susanna is offered work by a young Bajoran, but at what price?

Chapter 02 - Dane

Chaye sent her to off to stand in the line for a meal and warned her that if she didn't return with something in her stomach he'd made her eat his shoes. Of course that was a joke since the workers aboard Terok Nor that actually owned shoes were sparse and Ishan Chaye certainly wasn't one of them. Nonetheless, Susanna knew he was right since she also missed the servings yesterday and two days without food were beginning to take it's toll on her already malnourished body. But she hated the line so fiercely that sometimes she'd run off before even getting close to the stand where the watery substance that was provided as food was served in large bowls, adding to the illusion one could fill one's stomach with it.

She wasn't Bajoran and it made her appearance on the station stand out. She knew some people whispered if perhaps she had the distinct Bajoran nose ridges surgically removed to escape the violence of the Cardassian occupation and those rumors had gotten her into more fights than she cared to remember. The irony was that most Bajorans she met were as hostile to other races as the Cardassians were to them, only they didn't seem to realize that it hardly mattered to the Cardassians if you were a Bajoran or not. You were destined to suffer the same cruel faith if you were a sympathizer, ridges or no ridges.

As she tried not to let the rotten smell and hostile vibrations that hung around the group of waiting people permanently get to her, she shuffled another inch forward. She looked ahead to the end of the line where a Bajoran man place himself in front of the table, looking down, waiting for his bowl to be filled and handed over to him, then hurried off into the darkness of one of the corridors.

Thirteen seconds. Thirteen seconds between the first step he made towards the table and the first step he made when leaving it. Sixteen seconds if he was a woman, as she learned. They may not notice it, but those in charge of serving food consequently took three seconds longer to serve a woman, than they did to serve a man. She had observed the line many times, either while standing in it or from a distance, and always there was a pattern. Amidst the chaos of this station, it's inhabitants and it's oppressors, there was order.

Her eyes trailed over the group of people in front of her, in her head aligning them, women left, men right. Seventeen men, twenty-one women. And before the next man took his bowl, and the line shortened another inch and another thirteen seconds her calculation was done. Fife-hundred-forty-four seconds before it was her turn, and she started counting.

Ishan Chaye stretched his back, whilst keeping an eye on the Cardassian officer in charge that day. He'd seen him beat down several workers already for minor infractions and it seemed he was in an irritated mood today. Regardless of the grueling workload and the unpredictable brutality of the Cardassians, Ishan was lucky to posses engineering skills that kept him away from the dreaded ore processing centers. He reached for the coil spanner and tried to ignore the pain in his back, knowing that it would take him another few hours or so before he got the third docking ring thruster working smoothly again. It was ironic, he thought, that this damn thing refused to work properly. The docking ring thrusters helped the massive station remain in stable orbit around Bajor, and it was the fourth time this month that he had to recalibrate it. A smile appeared on his worn face as he wondered if perhaps this station was more eager to break orbit with Bajor, than the Bajorans were to get rid of it.

- "Ishan…". The sudden sound of a whisper disrupted his thoughts and he looked to his right, trying to adjust his eyes to the sudden darkness after staring at the illuminated workstation for too long.

- "Ishan!"

- "Yes, I'm here. I'm here. Rosan?", he asked, knowing his friend was working on the other station.

- "I can't hold my spanner properly, can you give me a hand?"

Ishan sighted and looked around him to see if no one was watching him before moving towards Rosan slowly. He took the coil spanner from him and adjusted the pathways he was working on. He saw Rosan looking down from the corner of his eye, ashamed that he asked for help again. When Ishan was done he handed the spanner back to Rosan, and before he moved back to his own station, shortly lay his hand on his friend's shoulder.

He was worried about him, Rosan, who was suffering from an infection in his right hand and was simply unable to perform certain mechanical tasks with the required precision. Ishan helped him out whenever he could, but the workload was getting too much for him and he didn't know any other technicians that would care to help him out. He did know however, that if the Cardassians would find out Rosan was essentially useless as an engineer, they would reassign him to the ore processing centre, or worse, simply execute him.

Susanna took the bowl and looked around to see if there was a quiet place she could sit down. A few weeks ago she made the mistake to eat her meal at one of the round tables provided, when three older boys demanded the food from her. This wasn't uncommon, when hunger struck, loyalty was far to be found and everyone fended for themselves.

She sat down behind a stack of containers and was about to begin eating when she felt eyes staring at her. Carefully she looked up and felt the blood drain from her face as she saw a boy approaching her, his eyes fixed on her. Automatically she clasped the bowl a little tighter but she knew this was a hopeless situation.

The boy moved closer to her, then sat next to her, his eyes still locked on to her. What's taking him so long? she thought as she began to feel more nervous. She looked slightly to her right. He was tall, though he couldn't be more than a few years older than she was. Was he waiting for her to hand over her food willingly? She may not be a match for him, but she surely wouldn't let this go without a fight.

- "What do you want?", she asked him as she tried to put some strength in her voice. He looked back at her with a light smile on his face and moved a little closer.

- "Can you work?"

- "What do you mean…?". She was surprised by his question and cursed herself for her weak reply but she couldn't think of anything else to say. He looked her sharply.

- "What I mean is, can you work?" There was sarcasm in his voice and he was noticeably irritated.

- "Of course I can."

- "Meet me here tonight then. Twenty-two-hundred hours sharp.", he said as he stood up.

- "Wait!", she got up and nearly dropped her bowl. "I don't understand. What kind of work? Why me? And…"

- "Clean up crew.", he interrupted her. "And why you?". He smiled. "Because I need something other to look at than dirty dishes and spoon heads." That last remark stung, and Susanna gave him a angry look.

- "And I suppose you're so important that you can pick your own crew?", she said arrogantly as she straightened her back.

- "I have my ways. Take it or leave it. But I can assure you there are far worse things than being on my side."

He turned around and walked away. Susanna stared at one of the containers for a while. Work wasn't easy to come by on the station, especially not for a woman and especially not work that didn't involve some Cardassian pig breathing the smell of kanar on you while stripping you naked. Though this boy's conceited manner made her sick, he might be her only chance to escape the steel fences surrounding the Bajoran sector of the station and perhaps even make some latinum.

She only hoped Chaye would be back before that time.

Marat Dane strolled along the fence until he caught sight of a Cardassian officer. With his spoon he rattled the fence, a seemingly innocent gesture that never incited any suspicion. The Cardassian officer turned his head around, and upon seeing Marat he walked towards the fence.

- "What is it?", he asked while looking the other way.

- "I need to add someone to my crew. Starting tonight", Marat whispered.

- "How interesting. Stop wasting my time.", the officer replied sharply. Marat smiled. He loved Cardassian efficiency.

- "She's strong. Hard worker, I know that. And not an unpleasant sight either. Let her work on my shifts and you can have a little fun with her as well. After work hours that it."

- "You're a disgrace to your people Marat." The Cardassian officer grinned and pulled a work card out of his right pocket. He slipped it through the fence and as Marat took it he held it tightly and looked at the boy.

- "A disgrace.", he repeated, smiling, and let go of the card.

- "I know."

Susanna was getting nervous. It was a quarter to ten and Chaye was no where to be found. She knew he was working on the docking ring today but normally he was back around nine in the evening. She looked around the compound until she spotted a young man.

- "Jilan", she said as she touched his shoulder softly as not to startle him.

- "Ah Susie!". He knew she didn't like to be called that, so he chuckled every time the young girl would give him a chance to do so. Tonight however she didn't give him one of her infamous frowns, and she seemed to be in a hurry.

- "Do you want to sit?", he asked as he moved over a little.

- "No, no thanks. I was just wondering if maybe you've seen Ishan?"

- "I'm guessing he's still working. Don't worry about him, he's probably just running late. From what I've heard the spoon heads are getting a little irritated with that thruster failing more often than it's working so I don't think they'll let him off before it's fixed." Jilan was an engineer himself and he knew how long work shifts could last when something was malfunctioning.

- "Yeah, I guess..", she looked to the fence where she was supposed to meet the boy but he wasn't there yet. "Look, could you tell him I'll be gone for a few hours if you see him?"

- "Gone where?"

- "I have work.", she whispered and she couldn't suppress a smile. "I'm on the cleaning crew, I'm supposed to leave at ten."

Jilan looked concerned but nodded in agreement. He promised Ishan he would keep an eye on her while he was working, but Jilan often disagreed with his over protectiveness. She was eleven years old, and unfortunately during these times, at that age you should be able to take care of yourself. Besides, there were worse things than working on the cleaning crew.

Looking behind him he watched the small figure walk away towards the fence. One thing did worry him though. How in the name of the Prophets did she get on the cleaning crew?...

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