Disclaimer: Star Trek belongs to Paramount, I just play here.
3. To Cardassia.
Going over the details and making flight preparations didn't take long, and the Thalys took off only a few hours later. At the Cardassian border, the patrols were much heavier than normal. But Julie had flown the Thalys through on a regular basis, and most ships patrolling the border knew her. Besides, what threat could a tiny, two-person trader pose?
On Cardassia's space port Julie took her time. She was careful not to show more impatience in getting her ship unloaded, refuelled, and all the paperwork taken care off than any other trader would. This was a place where everyone would be observing everyone.
Sabi remained behind to purchase new cargo, and Julie went into town. She followed the directions she had received from Sisko, and soon met Dukat, who recognised her.
"I wasn't told it would be you coming here," he said. He didn't seem to be surprised. The message he'd received had told him someone would come in person, someone who was Maquis, who worked with Sisko on this one. It made sense Julie would be more than a simple trader. Few other crafts as small as hers had traded on Cardassia, and even those had all but stopped coming when the situation got more tense. The Thalys had come in more often.
They walked as they talked, avoiding crowded places or staying in any one spot where they could be overheard. Julie told Dukat the Maquis raids were finally stopped.
"I am glad to hear that, but it is a little late for that now," the Cardassian said.
Julie sighed. She'd gone over this more times than she cared to remember. She looked at the billboards that were put up, the flyers posted all over town, and the headlines of the news-clips on display at the vendor. It did not look good.
"You think they can still be stopped?" she asked.
Dukat almost automatically replied with one of his brush-off answers, but something compelled him to be honest to this human. "I don't know. But we have to try."
When they finished talking, Julie made as if to go to one of the space port hotels. Dukat stopped her.
"There's been trouble in the Port district almost every day. You are welcome to stay at my place," Dukat said.
For a moment, Julie didn't know what to say. Her first reaction was to refuse, as it would make it impossible to hide their contact. Then she realised it would be a better cover than anything -while talking to someone regularly and going separate ways was a sure indication of some kind of business relation, staying with Dukat would give a quite different impression. And not the kind of impression any political party or intelligence agency would be interested in. So she agreed.
She realised she didn't even know if he was married -not that that would matter on Cardassia, where different values reigned than on most Federation worlds- and she asked him.
"I was married," Dukat replied. "My wife left me when I brought home a daughter from another relation, some months ago. Ziyal is half Bajoran. I have eight children, the oldest lives on her own, the three youngest ones live with their mother. Ziyal runs the house now, and takes care of the other three. Mikor is twelve, Balet ten, and Zeno is almost nine."
"I'm looking forward to meeting them," Julie said.
Dukat smiled ruefully. "They might not all be too happy to meet you. Mikor and I... We do not always agree on certain things."
That statement turned out to be quite accurate. Mikor scowled at her all through dinner. The other boys didn't seem to mind her too much, and Ziyal was quite friendly.
The next day, Julie had eaten alone as she'd been in late for lunch. She put her plate in the kitchen and in the cleaner. Ziyal looked at her in surprise. Julie saw her expression. She knew on Cardassia most people had housekeepers who took care of everything. She certainly wasn't expected to lend a hand. But she'd seen Ziyal had her hands full with the three boys and keeping the house up.
"You don't have to do everything for me. Don't you have a housekeeper?"
"She went with Leya and the younger children. In these times, it's hard to find a housekeeper who can be trusted," Ziyal said.
"So you have to do it all," Julie said. She felt sorry for the young woman. She was young, barely more than a girl herself, and being half-Bajoran must be hard, too. Especially now.
Ziyal nodded. "Sometimes I think it would've been better if I never came back here. I love my dad, but I'm the reason his family broke up."
Julie inwardly cringed. She knew that if they could not stop the right-wing movement it would only get worse, for everyone. But as she didn't know exactly how much Dukat had told his daughter, she merely said, "You're here now. You're doing a great job with the boys, and I'll give you a hand when ever I can." And she would, just sometimes not in any way Ziyal would know of.
During the next week, reports of increased support for the right-wing factions kept coming in. Dukat met with various people all day. Julie went out for some of the time, checking in with her connections, but many she couldn't reach. She told Sabi to load the Thalys and head back for Deep Space Nine. Whatever was going to happen, it was nothing to get caught in with a tiny vessel like that.
One afternoon Julie returned from another futile mission in search of information. Dukat was out, and would be for several hours. Mikor was sitting at the table, eating a snack while reading something.
As she hadn't eaten yet either, Julie went and got herself some larish pie from the kitchen.
"Mind if I sit down?" she asked the boy.
"Hrm," Mikor grunted and pointed with one hand to another chair. He did not stop reading.
Julie sat down and looked at what the boy was reading. It wasn't 'Mein Kampf', but it was close. 'First: Cardassia', by Gul Bukel.
She wasn't sure what to say, or if she should say anything. But as Mikor read on, she couldn't just sit there.
"You really believe that stuff?" she asked.
Mikor looked up. "This guy is pretty good, you know. He says we can move in and take Bajor and a large part of the Federation any time we want to." He did not, of course, know any details of why she was here. She and Dukat had kept their political discussions private, talking only about neutral subjects during dinner, with the children present.
"That would mean war," Julie said.
Mikor nodded enthusiastically. Julie got the impression he was so wrapped up in his enthusiasm he barely noticed whom he was talking to, as usually he gave her one-word answers only. "Yes. War is great. It can make Cardassia great."
Julie didn't know much about children. She liked them, but she'd never had the time for them, and most places where she came in the line of her duties, there were none. She had heard many times about teenagers rebelling against their parents, holding opposite views and different opinions. She felt sad Mikor was so taken in by this propaganda she and his father were trying to stop. She looked at the boy as she answered, "No. War is not great. In the end, war can only destroy. In a war everybody looses."
It sounded strange, coming from her, who had fought in so many wars. Still, that was precisely what had taught her that while war can not always be avoided, the statement she'd just made was true.
Mikor did not see it that way. He looked at her as if he just now noticed her for who she was.
"I wouldn't expect a human to understand," he said. He picked up his book and left, leaving Julie at the table.
It was almost a week later. The elections were approaching fast; they only had three more days. It was evening. Ziyal and the boys had long since gone to bed, but Julie and Dukat were still going over prognoses, reviewing tri-vision reports of demonstrations and small skirmishes near the Central Command, and trying to make sense of various Fleet movements.
Dukat threw the PADD on the table with a frustrated sigh. Julie looked up from hers, then put it down, too. She studied the Gul's face. *It's easy for me* she thought. *But this is his planet. His home.* And he did not have a lot of support here, not even from his own son.
She got up and walked around the table, to stand behind the Cardassian. She started to massage his broad shoulders. For a moment, Dukat started, surprised, but as she kneaded the scaly chords running down his neck, he relaxed.
"Enough work for today," Julie said softly.
Dukat hesitated. "Are you saying what I think you are saying?"
"What do you think I am saying?" Julie asked, teasingly.
Dukat had to warn her, although he thought she already knew."Cardassian sex would be rather... rough, by human standards."
Julie dug her nails in his back. Hard. "Some humans like it like that," she said, as he had expected she would. As an answer, he pulled her around and bit her.