Explanations:

Tacking into the Wind (episode): "Gowron begins reckless attacks against the Dominion; Kira and the Cardassians plot to steal a Breen weapon." – memory-alpha

Tal Shiar: "The Tal Shiar is the elite intelligence agency of the Romulan Star Empire. It is a highly-respected and feared force in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Its purpose is guarding the security of the Empire, both from the Romulans' interstellar enemies - most notably the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire - as well as from traitors within the Romulan population itself." – memory-alpha

Chapter 10

"It's a children's story, about a young shepherd boy who gets lonely while tending his flock. So he cries out to the villagers that a wolf is attacking the sheep. The people come running, but of course there's no wolf. He claims that it's run away and the villagers praise him for his vigilance."
"Clever lad. Charming story."
"I'm not finished. The next day, the boy does it again, and the next too. And on the fourth day a wolf really comes. The boy cries out at the top of his lungs, but the villagers ignore him, and the boy, and his flock, are gobbled up."
"Well, that's a little graphic for children, wouldn't you say?"
"But the point is, if you lie all the time, nobody's going to believe you, even when you're telling the truth."
"Are you sure that's the point, Doctor?"
"Of course. What else could it be?"
"That you should never tell the same lie twice."

- Bashir and Garak in 'Improbable Cause'

(Tacking into the Wind) He was glad that Damar seemed to have changed so much since their last encounter. He has developed to be more than just a by-the-book soldier and he became a rebel using all the opportunities he could get. He held back Rusot whenever he wanted to complain about Colonel Kira and stayed uncharacteristically calm whenever tensions began to grow. Of course, he'd never allow them to notice but he was so eager on destroying the Dominion and Garak began to wonder what Weyoun did to change his mind so dramatically.

"You're gonna do something about him?" she complained.

Garak felt like the only Cardassian who hasn't got used to the fact of a Bajoran militia member wearing a Starfleet uniform.

"I am. I'm giving him my support," Damar answered, typically neutral and defending his men, especially Gul Rusot, whenever possible.

"Alright," Kira answered unbelieving, and the other Cardassian walked away to join the others.

Garak still felt like an outcast and outsider, after all, he had come together with two militia officers, sent by the Federation. "This does not bold well," he mentioned and wanted to warn her, but she noticed that Odo had arrived in the main cave and left him standing there alone. He sighed and went to the main consoles to re-check if Rusot hadn't created any more problems. He couldn't remember anyone at the Obsidian Order being so negligent. That must be the main reason for the military's failure and the Order's raise to power before they had been completely destroyed. Garak still wondered how this could have been happened, but he figured that it must have led this way since Tain's death.

"Anyone in the bunk room?" Kira asked him and he shortly looked up from the consoles.

"No," he stammered pretending that he overheard their silent conversation. He may become old but his eyes were as good as they always were, especially after being trained in the Mekar Wilderness where it was a must to hear when your enemies neared. He remembered hiding near the rocks and adapting to the environment while the enemy group had built their central meeting point only a few meters away. How hot it had been and how claustrophobic it felt, he'd never forget that. And after all, he had often been in uncomfortable small rooms but he doubted that those measurements of his father had triggered the hoped effect.

Shall I tell her, he asked himself but then decided not to. It was a matter between the two of them and he shouldn't make their relationship even more complicated than it already was. But despite all, when he encountered Odo relaxing on the bed, he looked worse than he had expected. The changeling looked up all of sudden until he recognized him. "It's just you to come sneaking in here without warning," he laughed and lay down again.

"My approach may have been quiet but I assure you I had no intention on sneaking up on you," Garak said calmly and came closer. They might have their differences, but he respected Odo very highly not only for what he did during the occupation and since then, but also for living and enduring the imperfectness he experienced as a shapeshifter or not. "My apologies," he added and bent down to have a closer look. "If I may ask…"

"Why…have I deteriorated so rapidly. I've been assuming dozens of different forms during the past few weeks. Changing the shape seems to accelerate the progress of the disease."

"Perhaps, you should stop," he simply suggested with a concerned look.

"And do what? Lie here, waiting to die? I came to work, work is what I got to do."

"I take it Kira is unaware of your true condition," the Cardassian said although he thought that Kira must suspect something. She was no fool and she seemed to be even more caring and worrying about Odo in the last time.

"That's right," the changeling said sharply. "And I prefer that it stays that way."

Garak assured him that he won't say anything. If this was what he wanted, he should get it. But he swore himself that before he was 'working himself to death', he'd warn Kira.

He didn't want her to lose the one she loved like he lost the only one he loved, just because he didn't tell the truth, just because he did whatever he was told to do. For Cardassia, he thought. He has always done what Cardassia wanted and now it was time to bring this old Cardassia back, if it still existed. And this was the only thing that mattered right now.

"And I don't want her…" Odo finally said, it seemed so hard for him to admit his love.

Garak knew how difficult certain feelings were and how well his life must have been if he had completely closed himself and never allowed a single emotion influence his work. Perhaps he would have become like Tain, did his mother love him, after all? This was a question he had asked himself a lot of times.

Perhaps he'll ask her, as soon as he'd have time. "Pity?" he tried to end the sentence.

"Is there a reason you came in here?" Odo asked, obviously annoyed by Garak for knowing what he was thinking. He had been a spy, he knew how to get information out of him, the shapeshifter thought and resolved to rather continue being careful.

"We have need of a contact on Kelvas V, I remember you knew someone–"

"I may have a few names for you. I have to give it some thought," he answered and leaned back again. He just couldn't relax. Was it Garak's presence or already the consequences his increasing disease?

"Odo, I hope you know how much…"

"If I don't want any pity from the woman I love, why would I want it from you?" he rhetorically asked with disgust in his voice. Garak, and pity? He'd never believe that, he was a spy and he didn't even want to think about how many people he had tortured and killed in his life and how he succeeded in continuously pretending to be so charming.

But Garak understood quickly and left without a word. It was better to leave Odo alone and let him recover. He wondered what happened if Rusot or the other men found out. Damar would probably be easy to persuade to keep it to himself, but he was the only Cardassian who Garak currently trusted. Speaking of the devil, he thought and abruptly stopped to turn around.

"Have you been spying on us?" Garak asked suspiciously.

"I'd never do," Damar said but meant the opposite. He left his hiding place near the rocks and walked toward him. "He's ill?"

"A minor disease, nothing serious," Garak lied already knowing how senseless it was.

Damar smiled slightly. "You may have been a convincing liar, Garak, but even of your words I don't believe a bit," he said and started walking away from the bunk room.

Garak looked back and reassured that Odo hasn't heard anything. "It's a disease that also infected the other Founders. The doctor at Deep Space Nine is trying to find a cure."

"He'd better do fast. Will it influence our mission?"

"Not yet. He doesn't want anyone to know, especially not Kira," Garak warned the former Legate who nodded and stopped before they reached the main cave again.

"I won't tell it anybody but I'd rather like no incidents caused by his arrogance," he whispered and stepped forward to join the other Cardassians talking about latest efforts made by other resistance groups.

Garak sighed and continued working lonely at some burned plasma relays of a malfunctioning replicator.

=/\=

News had spread that the Jem'Hadar and Breen have started random interrogations of the Cardassian population. Palandine who had just been preparing lunch, watched how two Dominion soldiers were hauling off a young woman serving for a family in the near neighborhood. They pulled her through the dirt until she stopped screaming and claiming to have nothing to do with the resistance groups.

Palandine shook her head. What would happen to her? How many innocent people would it take before Weyoun stopped the killing? How many would it take before Damar stopped his rebellion? Her heart nearly stopped working when she heard the door sound. She wiped her trembling hands clean with a tissue and walked over to the entry hall. There must be hundreds of other Cardassians now standing behind their front door wondering who that could be.

Nervously, she flattened her purple-blue blouse and opened the door. She had been right: Two seriously looking Jem'Hadar officers, both heavily armed with the newest phaser rifles, stood in front of her. She cursed herself for not directly having tried to flee but this would have made her sympathy with the rebellion more obvious.

Now, all she had to do was to stick to one 'truth' and remind herself on what she had been trained. How much tougher could it be than training at the Bamarren Institute?

=/\=

"And according to our new contact on Kelvas V the Breen will begin to install their energy dampening weapons aboard Jem'Hadar fighter within a week."

"Has the Federation made any progress in counter-acting these weapons?"

"No, they're still having trouble understanding the underlying technology."

"But why aren't the Klingon ships affected by these Breen weapons?" Damar wanted to know. The true soldier is speaking again, Garak thought and saw that Rusot liked 'his' leader being suspiciously toward the Bajoran. They still don't trust us, the former tailor concluded with his attention on highest level.

He still believed it a mistake to take Odo along this mission. And obviously he wasn't the only one having that thought. Right after the first briefing they had, racking their brains how to get hold of a Jem'Hadar cruiser, Damar pulled Garak aside to have some private words with him.

"She knows," was the first thing Garak mentioned in a low voice.

"Then why does she act like this?" he whispered.

"She wants him to keep his last dignity and hope."

"Dignity?"

"I am sure, you never had anyone that close to you that you could call it 'love'?" Garak asked and has obviously touched a sore spot.

Damar eyeballed him for quite a while, until he finally answered: "I have a wife and children. I don't know how long you've been away from Cardassia, but we care for our families here."

"Most people do. Your family is somewhere safe, right?" Garak answered. Despite all what he had expected, Damar did not become as aggressive as he would have gotten a few months ago. Something must have changed this man, something terrible must have happened or crossed his mind.

"They are. But I don't doubt that Weyoun has already sent his men to search them. And I don't doubt that they'll succeed…they just need their time," he answered.

Garak could see how much it actually hurt him, not the danger of probably losing his family, but having become such an emotionless and reckless soldier, being a pawn of the Dominion for so long. Substitutable, the first word that popped into his mind thinking of his first meeting with the Breen.

"What about you? You've been exiled for nearly a decade, but don't tell me you've got no family in this system," he carried on their conversation and Garak, already lost in thoughts, was pulled back into reality.

"I…my mother must still be somewhere on Cardassia Prime," he stammered, when was the last time he had talked about his family? It had already taken him ages until he had found out the truth about his parents. That the man, who he had always thought to be his father, was his uncle and that Enabran Tain, the most reckless and selfish man he knew, was the creator of a piteous outcast spy.

"There're rumors that your father was some kind of administrative working in the Tarlak Sector."

"For a rumor that's quite much information," Garak answered with a smile.

"Is it true, then? Was he a spy, like you?" Damar said confused.

Garak's smile stayed. "I assume you hear a lot these days. People talk…"

"People talk that you're Enabran Tain's son…Don't ask me how it spread…but you know the nature of rumors, don't you?"

Garak became a bit nervous and looked aside. Nobody was watching them. "How far…has this 'rumor' spread?" he wanted to know.

"The truth…interesting. During my days at the Military headquarters with Dukat, we needed to figure out how to overthrow the Obsidian Order. Since Tain's death, security wasn't what it used to be."

"Yes…I remember how easy it became to infiltrate your security system. A problem Weyoun unfortunately solved little while later."

"You can be assured, Garak, your little secret will be safe within me."

"It seems a lot of secrets are safe within you. A while ago, I wouldn't have trusted you any farther than I can shoot," Garak said and raised his eye encircling ridge.

Damar smiled and whispered: "Let us go back or they'll become curious why we're always talking so privately."

"People might get thoughts," Garak commented and followed the leader back to the others.

=/\=

Palandine and about eight other Cardassians were brought into a little Jem'Hadar shuttle and flown toward the administrative center in the Tarlak Sector. She knew that she was hardly picked randomly but as a matter of fact, the others didn't look like sympathizers of the Rebellion.

There were some servant women she knew from her neighborhood, a few men who did not seem to belong to the military and a few other women who seemed rather nervous. After ten minutes, they landed somewhere and the Jem'Hadar pushed them out and into the main building of the current government. Palandine had worked here for a short time after she had returned from the Institute but only until she became officially married to Barkan.

They were brought into the cellars and into a small holding cell. The shortly visibly appearing force field made it clear that they shouldn't try to get out. After all, a contact longer than five seconds at once would immediately burn the skin. A Cardassian security man stepped into the light and read out the names of the attendees.

"You are all here because of suspected conspiracy with a rebellious underground movement which infringes rule forty-seven of line thirty-three of the new Dominion law system. When we assured that you have no relation to the mentioned criminal organization, you are free to go. Do not regard this as an official arrest, you are just serving the Cardassian government. All we are going to ask you is for Cardassia." He finished talking and nodded to a Breen soldier who deactivated the force field. Three Jem'Hadar took the first three citizens and left the room together with the other guards.

=/\=

He was there again. It was silent, far too silent for his taste. He turned and looked back but all he spotted was space, empty and infinite space. He couldn't go back, there was nowhere he could go. He was forced to continue walking and slowly he sneaked forward. He was used to the darkness around him, only now his eyes could fully view his environment. He heard a fizzling, probably from an leaky conduct.

He stopped and listened for a while but then went on into the corridor. All he saw was black and only his good eyes couldn't help him finding his way. He touched the wall next to him, trying to find a control panel but suddenly he felt something cold. It was slimy and viscous. He tried to figure out what it was or to get rid of it, but it stuck on his hand. He continued walking, one hand gliding along the wall until he reached a console whose display was flickering.

He enabled the power conduit to the lightening system but either his vision was blurry or the buttons were becoming indistinct and converting into Bajoran writing. He squinted his eyes and finally managed to switch on the light. The corridor became visible and as soon as his eyes got used to the brightness, he stumbled backward and fell down. He landed on something flexible and suddenly noticed that the reason for both his stumbling and his soft landing was the body of a dead Bajoran militia member. He crawled backward but couldn't stand up.

The whole corridor was crowded with dead people. Corpses lay everywhere, over each other, seeming to have stumbled and fallen and being stamped down. He looked again at his right hand and now saw the liquid on his hand. It was green and he looked back at the wall. There was Romulan body lying right under the blood spot, his whole uniform was soaked with green blood. Disgusted, he tried to wipe the blood from his hands but despite all his toil, the stain seemed to grow bigger. He stopped and the liquid stayed where it was. A type of curiosity, but rather his attention was alarmed now.

Carefully, he stood up and examined the body he had been partly lying on. It was a Bajoran female, wearing a red Bajoran militia uniform, which was as well covered in red but dried blood. The Romulan wore a Tal Shiar uniform, as far as he could figure it out under all the blood this agent had lost. He looked around and started walking over to the next body. It was a Klingon warrior, his uniform was unharmed but the head was hardly dark-brown but rather seemed to have been covered all over with purple blood.

What could have happened to them?, he asked himself as he continued walking the corridor. Bodies were lying everywhere, he had to pay highest attention to not step on one of the corpses. Some seemed strangely disfigured, parts of their bodies weren't where they were supposed to be, some of them have apparently been drowned in blood, not always in their own. All their faces looked familiar, although he didn't recognize them.

For him, they were only corpses, Romulan, Bajoran, Andorian, Ferengi, Klingon and Trill corpses. He went around the corner and nearly fell over a dead Vulcan man who was sitting leaned against a locked door. Green blood covered the upper part of his body and due to an uncommon hole, he figured that this man must have been stabbed. But he couldn't see a knife lying anywhere. Walking around the man, he tried to open the door but even realigning the power lines to this system was inefficient. Already a bit anxious and paranoid, he went on and tried from time to time opening the doors.

Finally, he arrived at a turbolift and surprisingly the doors hissed open. His mouth dropped open as the first thing he could see inside the lift was the dead body of a Cardassian. When he came closer to examine the body, he definitely recognized this man: It was Damar, sitting at a wall, his head hung down. Garak reached out his hand to touch the fellow's head, but in that moment the turbolift doors closed and Garak startled and turned around.

"Computer, halt turbolift," he ordered when they had suddenly started moving. But nothing happened. "Computer," Garak said but suddenly there was a hissing that reminded him very much on a malfunctioning computer system.

Abruptly, they gained speed and Garak felt nearly weightless. "We're falling," he muttered with his eyes widening and wondered to whom and about whom he was talking. Damar was dead, there was no 'we' who was falling to death, only him. All of sudden, he experienced an attack of claustrophobia that he hasn't felt quite a while. The walls seemed to move closer although he knew the irrationality of this thought. He stood up and banged his hands against the door.

"Get me out of here!", he screamed loudly and repeatedly. "Get me out of here!" The air became thinner and gasping for air he fell down on the ground again. "Get me out of here," he moaned and his face met the warm floor.

His view wandered upon Damar's body until he was finally staring at the ceiling. He wanted to close his eyes when suddenly something bright dazzled his eyes. He turned his head and saw that the doors had opened. Looking down on the floor, he crawled out of the turbolift and looked up. He found himself on the Promenades of Deep Space Nine. But contrary to his memory, the station was flooded with bright lights and colors, which would have made it look make comfortable – if anybody would have been here. But nobody was. He was alone, standing quietly on the lower deck, staring at the huge empty space.

"Is this what you wanted?" someone suddenly said behind him.

Garak turned around and astonishingly encountered Damar, living now, just in front of him. "What?" he aspirated amazed. Hasn't he just seen his immobile and dead body in the turbolift?

"This is what Deep Space Nine will look like when the war has ended," Damar explained and started walking past the other Cardassian.

Garak followed him but didn't stop looking around, hoping for a life sign or even a Cardassian vole.

"When the war has ended and the Dominion has wiped out the last standing Cardassian rebels, the last fighting Bajoran resistance members and the last upright Federation officer with a rifle in his hand, then Deep Space Nine will be as abandoned as Earth, Bajor, Kronos or even the Romulan system," Damar explained.

"But…why should we lose the war?" Garak asked, assuming that this was either a way of torture in case they were already found by the Dominion or just one of his endless nightmares that had started since being locked up on an alien-run station as a tailor.

"Why?" the former Legate asked loudly and stopped immediately his walk on the circular Promenades. "There is no chance in beating the odds. The Dominion, the Breen and the Cardassians against a handful Romulans, some martyring Klingons and the always ethically correctly acting Federation. And you call that a fair fight?"

"The Cardassians will turn…they'll change sides and help us," Garak answered nervously.

"Really?" Damar said and raised his left eyebrow ridge.

"Yes, I know for sure," he repeated now more confidently.

"And what if, due to the changes your future-you has already committed, the Cardassians will not have a change of mind? What if they would have turned, like in the alternate timeline of the other Garak, if he hadn't decided to pay you a visit a few weeks ago?" the Rebellion leader hissed.

Garak didn't respond. He had his point. What if, even after the changes that were already created or that will happen, some things changed this timeline in even a worse future than the 'other' Garak had predicted? He looked down on the floor. Hasn't it been always like this in his life? Trying to do the best he could and then be punished?

"You see? Nothing is predictable. Nothing but the fall of the Federation, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire. And do you know what happens then? The Dominion will rise to power, subdue the Gorn Hegemony and continue its annihilating journey toward the last few planets that is inhabited by a worthy species to either join or die… But you shouldn't be too concerned about this. When it happens…you'll be already dead," Damar said and his mouth turned into a huge smile.

Garak felt the sudden urge to run away, to scream for help and to leave the doomed space station but all what happens was immediate darkness. He breathed heavily, not daring to move until he realized that he was awake again.

"Everything okay?" he heard a familiar voice whisper and turned his head. It was Damar, hardly recognizable in the little light. "You were breathing so heavily," he added.

"Just…a nightmare," Garak explained and tried to smile. The rebel leader nodded and closed his eyes again. Garak also tried to find some more sleep but was unable to lose control of his body again. He didn't want to return to this dream, neither any other form of prediction of what lay in front of them.

=/\=

Palandine was the last one left in the holding cell. She knew they were doing this on purpose, probably she was the best hint concerning the Rebellion. Finally, two armed Jem'Hadar lowered the force fields and made her go through an eternity of corridors until she had completely lost orientation. She had to sit down on a single chair in the mid of the room and her hands were bound together with a magnetic handcuff.

She looked surprised when suddenly a Vorta entered the light cone. Why should Weyoun himself do the interrogation? "Hello, Palandine Lokar," he said smilingly. His voice was even slimier than in the video presentations that were broadcasted all over Cardassia.

"Weyoun? I thought you'd be busy leading a war, ruling the Dominion and finding the pet you've lost?" she answered and tried to return the smile.

His eyes twitched in recognition, he had seen the same smile before, he just couldn't remember where. "In case it might interest you, five of the other suspects have been free to go," he continued.

"How kind you are," she answered ironically.

"Unfortunately," he said and started walking around her, "I have reasons to assume that you have been in contact with…certain members of our…your population." He stopped abruptly and she stared on the floor in front of her as if she wasn't interested in anything he said. "Okay, let me put this straight: These people are criminals, they endanger not only the war but also every single citizen on this planet or in the whole Dominion association. You are only acting for the good of Cardassia when you tell me everything you know." He bent forward and nearly placed his head on her shoulder.

She looked aside to him and saw his violet eyes glooming. "I've had no contact with any rebellion member," she said strongly.

"You have been passing sectors at night quite often."

"People do pass sectors at night."

"But you mostly came from the Munda'ar Sector. There're only warehouses and minor administrative centers of the service and economy sector. Isn't it strange? That you use to visit abandoned warehouses at nighttime?" he hissed. "Don't let me pretend anything or you might get foolish ideas, Palandine. I have read the circumstances under which your husband died and funnily – and with nice conversations with the right people – I found a connection to a certain tailor I know…or shall I rather call it a relationship?" He stood up and turned around to her.

"My former relationships are no issue of who I am today or what I do," she answered. So, Garak is indeed a tailor on that alien-run space station, she thought.

"You are a lonely woman, Palandine. Your daughter has her own life and you're not living with your parents and parents-in-law. You have influence and you know people who are already being wanted as Rebellion members. Just tell me who they are and where and when you do meet and you can also see your daughter again, get out of here and establish a new life," he hissed.

She looked up at his face.

"I know you're part of a cell, Palandine," he added and his voice became more and more unfriendly with every word.

"Great. But I don't intend telling you anything," she said stubbornly with her eyes fixed on the floor.

"Good. I'll send someone who'll make you talk," the Vorta said and left the room without turning back.