Disclaimer: Star Trek belongs to Paramount, I just play here.
4. All hell breaks lose.
The next morning, Julie woke up with more than a few scratch and bite marks. Turning, she could see she had left her share on him, as well. She smiled. Then she slowly remembered why she was here, and her smile disappeared. She took a just few more moments to relax, then slipped out of bed.
As she came out of the sonic shower, Dukat just got up, too. They both quickly dressed and ate breakfast. There was no time for playing around today. The right-wing parties had planned a big march for this morning.
They went out early, and found a place near the big square in front of the Central Command building. The place quickly filled up, many of the crowd screaming chants against the Founders, and for war.
Suddenly, just before the leaders of the Sach Ba would speak to the crowd, someone fired a weapon. A statue in front of the building, quite close to where Dukat and Julie were standing, collapsed into an orange heap.
"Founder!" someone screamed.
Julie looked at the puddle on the ground. "That is not a Founder," she said. "It's a set-up."
Dukat agreed. It had collapsed too quickly, to much like a thin liquid; not shimmering and slowly like he'd seen Odo morph. But there was no way anyone was going to listen to them.
Within seconds, people everywhere produced weapons. Many pulled disruptors, others pulled disruptor rifles from hiding places, and Julie even spotted a couple of phaser cannons.
"It's a coup!" she yelled over the noise. She pulled a small phaser from a hidden holster on her side.
The armed people surged into the Government building. Julie saw Dukat hesitating, as if to go in. He, too, had drawn his weapon.
"You can't stop them. There are too many of them. We gotta get out of here!" She pulled him around. As his gaze at the violent coup broke, he came back to his senses. They ran through the streets, but every road or alley toward the residential quarters was blocked.
"We must get to the ship, it's our only chance," Dukat said.
They made it to the transporter booths and beamed up to Dukat's ship. They arrived just in time to hear the first message from Gul Bukel. Not surprisingly, he was one of the main leaders of the coup.
"We, the true leaders of Cardassia, have taken back the command we are entitled to. We will now take back those regions of space the Federation and the Bajorans have so rudely taken from us, and at the same time gain control of the wormhole. We will stop the Founders once and for all."
At the same time, orders were transmitted for all warships to gather and start moving in formation to Bajoran space.
Julie cursed. "Dammit. They really did it."
Dukat watched as another Galor class ship started slowly in the direction of Bajor. They would not go to warp until all ships were in formation, but as far as they were from any known sensors the Cardassians deemed it safe to gather their fleet while moving on impulse. He gave a quick order and the warship followed, overtook the other one, and came to rest exactly in its course. Immediately, the warship hailed them.
"This is Gul Vanas, what are you doing?" the Cardassian on the viewscreen asked, irritated.
"Vanas, don't go along with this," Gul Dukat told the man. "Attacking the Federation, the Bajorans, and the Maquis all at the same time is madness. It is exactly what the Founders would want us to do."
At that moment the tactical officer called Dukat. "Two ships decloaking. They are Keldan class warships, Obsidian Order configuration."
*Where had the Order found new ships so fast?* Well, that didn't really matter now. Two more screens sprang to life.
"Defying orders, Dukat?" the Gul of one of the Keldan Class ships inquired. Dukat recognised him, although he did not know him well. Horet had always supported the Order. Horet spotted Julie on the Bara'Tra's bridge. "Did she get you to do this? I wonder if she is a changeling."
"Or perhaps you are," the third Gul said to Dukat.
As an answer, Julie stepped forward. In one move she pulled a dagger from her sleeve. She cut herself, and showed the blood to the Guls on the screen. Wordlessly, she handed the dagger to Dukat, who did the same.
"Don't you see?" Julie said, as they seemed satisfied that far. "You're seeing Changelings everywhere. They don't even have to be here! We all mistrust each other, and that's exactly what they want."
"We don't take advise from a human," Horet said.
Dukat cursed again. "Dammit, Horet. You should listen to her. She's right. You're all being led by the Founders' scheme, and you're too blind to see it."
Horet cut him off. "You are holding up the invasion. You will return your ship to the Base, and relinquish command if you aren't willing to take part in the attack."
Dukat did not budge.
"Ready disruptors," Horet said.
Dukat looked at him. "Are you saying that you will fire on another Cardassian ship?"
He recalled a time, over a year ago, when he had asked that same question. At that time he had not been on board of one of the ships himself, but had watched from Central Command. The Obsidian Order ships had hung in space for a long moment, then turned around and left. Not this time.
"Fire," Horet ordered, and at the same moment, the ship shook. The two other ships used only partial strength disruptors, feeling somewhat uncertain about firing on one of their own. Horet had no such restraints. The disruptors of the Keldan Class hit them full, at point-blank range. A panel at the weapons station overloaded, and the tactical officer screamed.
"Return fire," Dukat snapped. "Get us out of here. Heading 2-3-5 mark 8-3-0."
Julie saw the officer at tactical had severely burned both his hands when the shields overloaded. She was over at the station in a flash. Fortunately, the auxiliary shields had automatically come on line.
She'd never been on the bridge of a Galor Class warship before, but she'd been on many ships of all different kinds and types, and this wasn't the first time the manual wasn't included. She hit one button to get the main shields back on line -at 40%, but it was better than nothing-, another to get a status display on the attacking ships. The Keldan class ships were powering up torpedoes. Good. She knew a little trick with those.
Her timing was perfect. As the sensors showed the power buildup in the tubes was on maximum, she hit the disruptors. The torpedo from Horet's ship exploded exactly as it passed through the shields of the Keldan Class. Sensors showed the shields blew completely, the shockwave even throwing the ship off.
The other torpedo was hit just a little too late, exploding harmlessly in open space. Still, she had created an opening. The helm officer needed no prompting to make use of it. Julie fired the aft disruptors as they went into warp, but as she had hoped, the other ships were too shocked for an immediate pursuit. As she looked up from the tactical station, she found Dukat looking at her.
"You continue to amaze me," he said.
"Just a little trick I picked up somewhere," Julie shrugged.
Sisko sat in his office when the call came.
"Dax to Sisko."
"Go ahead."
"Sir, we have a Cardassian ship approaching at high warp." The Trill paused, then as new information appeared on her screen she added, "It is Dukat's ship."
Sisko was already halfway to the door as he acknowledged. "On my way."
This did not bode well, he thought. He stepped out of his office into the busy Ops center. "Hail them."
The image of the Cardassian bridge came on the screen immediately -it had hailed the station at the same time. Dukat was not alone. Julie, standing beside him confirmed what Sisko already knew.
"You were unsuccessful," he stated.
"Yes," Dukat said. "Worse, there was a coup d'etat this morning. I expect a fleet will be following us shortly."
He nodded to Julie, who transmitted the orders they had received and ignored to the Station's Operations Center.
"Damn," Sisko said. He turned to his officers. "Dax, call Starfleet Command. Kira, tell Bajor to prepare for an invasion. Take the Station to yellow alert. All hands, invasion procedures. This is not a drill." He turned back to Dukat. "What is your ETA at the Station?"
"We will be there in thirty minutes," Dukat said.
"Come to Ops as soon as you get here. Sisko out."
He wanted to hear more about what had happened to quicken the coup, but he had a station to prepare.
"Start evacuating as many civilians to Bajor as we can. Do we have ships docked that can be of any use?"
O'Brien answered, as Dax was busy contacting Starfleet. "We have a Ferengi Trader and a few small vessels."
"Tell them to assist us with the evacuations."
"Captain, Starfleet Command on subspace," Dax reported.
Sisko switched the screen in front of him to the Starfleet channel. A harried-looking admiral appeared on the viewer.
"Captain, we are rather busy right now," he said.
An icy feeling crept up Sisko's stomach. He controlled it and told the Admiral about their predicament.
The Admiral looked apologetic as he shook his head. "I am sorry, Captain. The Romulans have just crossed the Neutral Zone, and our entire Fleet is tied up. We will divert a ship as soon as we can spare one."
Sisko moved a little closer to the screen. "Look, I don't think you understand. We have a Cardassian invasion force coming this way. We need ships, several ships, and we need them now."
"I'm sorry. We'll send them as soon as the Romulans are driven back into their own space. Until then, hold them at bay with the Defiant and the Gettysburg." He turned as if someone off screen called him, and quickly signed off before Sisko could say another word.
For just a moment, it was dead quiet in Ops. The activities at the stations along the sides continued, but all Senior Officers just looked at the Starfleet symbol that had replaced the Admiral's face on the viewscreen. Then Kira burst into action.
She'd just called the Bajoran Administration and told them to prepare for the invasion. Now she got back on line to tell them Starfleet would not come to help. Sisko knew she was steaming, but she held it tightly under control. The Bajoran Council listened to Kira, then cut transmission to discuss the situation amongst themselves.
Sisko had to inform the Maquis, too, for as far as Julie had not done so yet. He called Sabi to Ops.
Not much later Dukat and Julie arrived in the turbolift. The Cardassian ship had just docked, and Dukat had left his officers to take care of the docking procedures and any repairs that needed to be made.
Just as they stepped off the lift, a call came in from Bajor. The Council informed them that they had send a message to Starfleet Command, recalling their ambassador.
"We feel betrayed by Starfleet. If they will not honor our treaty, it is worthless," the Bajoran said.
"We have an incoming message from Starfleet Command," Dax announced.
Sisko took it on another channel, leaving the channel with Bajor open. He thought he knew what the message would be, and he knew his answer.
The same Admiral from before came on the viewer, looking even more harried. "Captain. The Bajorans have just informed us they have broken their ties with the Federation. You are therefor ordered to hand the Station over to the Bajorans..."
"No."
"...and proceed with the Defiant to the Neutral Zone, maximum warp." It took a moment for Sisko's interruption to sink in. "What?" the Admiral asked, at the end of his order.
"I said no. I am not leaving the Bajorans here with an undermanned station and a few runabouts."
"This was not a suggestion. Those are your orders," the Admiral said.
"You can court-martial me later. If you can spare a ship to come and get me. Sisko out." He cut the transmission.
He looked at his officers. "Anyone who wants to fight the Romulans can board the Gettysburg. I can use each and every one of you here, but we are defying orders in doing so. I won't hold it against anyone who wants to leave."
"I am with you," Dax said. Bashir and O'Brien nodded. Worf, who hadn't been on Deep Space Nine as long as the others, was the last to answer.
"To leave now would be dishonourable," he said.
Sisko nodded briskly. He hadn't really expected anything different, but he had to give them the opportunity to back out.
"Now, we have an invasion to stop. We will co-ordinate it from here, with auxiliary command centers on Bajor and in the Maquis Headquarters." Sisko nodded at Sabi. She had managed to open a channel to the Maquis council, and although some there seemed sceptical, most were listening closely. Especially as they heard the Federation was no longer involved as such.
"I will take the Defiant, Dax, you're with me. Kira, you have the Station. Worf, contact the Klingons on the Cardassian/Federation border and try to get them to work with us. I do not think they will just get up and offer the Cardassians their planets back, but if they work in sync with our efforts we will both be more effective." Finally, Sisko looked at Dukat.
"I will fight on your side," Dukat replied.
Julie knew how hard it must be for the Cardassian. She wondered where Mikor was -probably joining in the coup, on the other side. She was glad he wasn't old enough yet to actually be on one of the ships that would be coming in soon, but she knew that one day he most likely would be there. Dukat had just closed the door on his home system, and his family.
Kira didn't object, but she still asked, "Can your crew be trusted to cooperate?"
"I've had months to select the crew of my ship," the Gul said. "They think no better of the so-called new government than I do."
Kira nodded. She had been in the Bajoran resistance, and she knew they needed anyone they could get.
Worf returned from one of the other communications consoles with the news from the Klingons.
"Kulak will co-ordinate his attack with ours. He, also, has been unsuccessful in recruiting help from Qonos. But he does have orders to defend the planets they hold here."
"We'll keep an open relay channel at all times, to co-ordinate our defense. Are there any more questions or suggestions before we all go to our ships?" Sisko asked.
Julie stepped forward. She specifically addressed Sisko, Dukat, and the Klingons on the view screen, but she made sure the others heard her, too.
"You're used to being backed up by a large Fleet. But unless we can do some major diplomatic patching up here, it looks like we aren't anymore. In the Maquis, capturing ships and salvaging weapons is sometimes deemed worthwhile, even if it means an additional risk. Considering the current situation, that objective could turn out to be quite important if we can not re-establish better relations with any of the Fleets."
Kira immediately showed her support. The Bajoran had fought in the Bajoran resistance long enough to know how important supplies and equipment were. There were no shipyards in the territories controlled by Bajor, Deep Space Nine, or the Demilitarized Zone, but there were several repair facilities on Bajor. And probably in Maquis territory as well -Kira had seen a runabout on long-range sensors that the Federation had given up as lost in one of the skirmishes.
"She's right. Anything that floats can be fixed, but we don't have the resources to build anything from scratch."
The Starfleet officers and Dukat nodded.
"Agreed," Sisko said. "Any other comments?"
There were none, so everyone got ready to go to their vessels.
Dukat stopped Julie.
"Kerahn's hands will not be much use at tactical yet. I would like you to man that station." He had other officers who could take over, but he'd been impressed by her quick actions earlier. On the bridge of a warship she could do much more than on a small ship like her own. And, he admitted to himself, he didn't want her fighting Cardassian warships in the tiny vessel of hers.
Julie had been on her way to the Thalys, but she immediately agreed.
"I'd be honored," she said. She turned to Sabi. "You have the Thalys. Pick someone as a second, Tuli or Cencoloh if either one of them is still on the station -grab one of the runabout pilots if they're not. Safe skies."
"Safe skies," Sabi answered as they split up.