Terok Nor: Chapter One
Author: doubtingJulia
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I don't own Terok Nor or most other things in the story. Don't sue me please, I have nothing. You can have my debt if you really want.
Terok Nor.
It orbited the Cardassian Colony world of Bajor. The mineral ore that was mined from the planet was processed there before going on to be used to built the great ships of the Cardassian Navy. Cardassia depended on Bajor not only for uridium and other natural recourses but also for food to feed the ever-expanding population.
The work to produce these things was done mainly by the native Bajorans, who were quite a different species from the Cardassians, having smooth skin in varying shades and being habitually slim and tall. Their most distinguishing feature was the series of small ridges on the bridge of the nose that ranged in number from four to seven. They were also well known for their strongly held religious beliefs. The planet had been annexed into the Cardassian Union only fifty years before and had not yet been fully integrated. This was mostly due to the Bajorans themselves. Initial scepticism at the Cardassian's motives soon turned into large-scale insurrection. These insurgents managed to be a great annoyance to the occupational forces and succeeded in disrupting many operations. Even on Terok Nor, on which the Bajor population was kept under even tighter control than on the surface, sabotage was a constant problem.
The majority of the Bajorans on the station had been impressed into service in constructing the station and then later in ore processing itself. A few had come voluntarily and there were a small number sparsely supplied shop and other services in the part of the station to which Bajorans were confined.
The station's importance greatly increased after Gul Dukat, then the newly appointed Prefect of Bajor, had moved the centre of power there from Jalanda, the planetary Capital. This action greatly increased the Cardassian population of the station as many major and minor occupational officials followed their commander there. Very few civilian Cardassians lived on Terok Nor. Those few that did were there to support the military personnel. A few aliens also ran establishments on the part of the station called the 'Promenade' and the station was a regular stop over point for traders and other travellers entering Cardassian space.
Quark often wondered if he had made the right decision in leaving home and opening his bar in the backwaters of the Cardassian Empire. Cardassians weren't his favourite people in the universe but he like them well enough. He especially liked how they spent a large part of their incomes on food and drink and were horrible gamblers. However, he certainly didn't like Bajorans, even if they worked long hours for almost nothing. Ferengis, as a rule, didn't like poor people. But they were desperate and as the 32nd Rule of Acquisition clearly said: "Desperate Employees are Good for Business." Everyday at least five of them came to ask him for work. He didn't let most of them get through the door but it had been a busy day and he was in a good mood so when a young girl show up right after closing he decided right away that he was going to hire her.
"Do you have any experience?" he asked her as he stood behind the bar counting the day's profits. She seemed confused by the question.
"Washing dishes?" she asked. Quark couldn't believe how slow these Bajorans were. He gave a theatrical sigh.
"Yes. That's what you want to be hired for isn't it."
"I've always been very good at washing things." There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in her voice; her tone was deferential and she kept her eyes cast down. She was desperate all right.
"You start tomorrow." Chuckling inwardly at her shocked expression he took her identification card over to the computer terminal and registered her as working in his establishment. "And you'll get six slips of latinum a week and two five minute breaks every day." Six slips of latinum wasn't enough to buy even one drink at this very bar but it was far better than what she would make anywhere else on the station, legally anyway.
The girl looked up at him for the first time. Quark was a poor judge of alien beauty and he had never considered Bajorans to be attractive in general but he did have to admit that this girl had very intriguing dark eyes.
"Thank you." She said, "You're very generous." To a Ferengi being called generous was a grave insult but after so many years among aliens he was use to such cultural misunderstandings. He decided he liked this Bajoran, she understood the importance of sucking up to the boss.
He stepped out from behind the bar and gave her card back to her.
"We open at 10h00 so be here at 8." She nodded. "You can go now."
As the girl walked towards the door Quark called back to her.
"Wait. What's your name?" She stopped and turned.
"Miya.¨ she said, looking at the floor again.
"And I'm Quark." He smiled, revealing all of his small pointed teeth.
She looked confused again and perhaps a bit disgusted.
"I...I know that." She was suddenly so nervous that Quark burst out laughing, which only seemed to scare her more.
"Forget it," He said, "just be here tomorrow." She wasted no time getting back out onto the Promenade.
The Ferengi businessman chuckled and got back to counting his profits and decided that things here on Terok Nor weren't so bad.
Fenn Miya had her papers checked no less than three times as she made her way back to the fence through the Cardassian side of the station. She had been out of the Bajoran Sector before but she always found it uncomfortable. There were far fewer people here but it seemed noisier and even a little hostile. Now she would walk this way everyday. She was seventeen and thin, like all Bajorans. She wasn't very pretty but she was very proud of her long black hair, which she wore half tied up and flowing down her back.
Miya was in quite a good mood. She was quite shocked that she was given regular work so easily, and in the Ferengi's bar too. He only hired a few Bajorans, mostly to do the cleaning up, but they were probably the most wanted jobs on the station. The pay was good, in comparison, and the work was not as hard or humiliating as most work was. Still, she didn't relish having to deal with the mostly Cardassian costumers or having to look at the Ferengi all the time. She didn't like the way he had smiled at her.
The bored looking guard at the gate checked her through without even looking at her. The Promenade in the Bajoran Sector, which the locals called the Galtera, wasn't that crowed since it was the middle of the shift in the ore-processing centre where most of the inhabitants worked. Her uncle worked there, and both of her cousins.
She had had nightmares about ore processing when she was a child. It was a loud, pitch-black inferno; the Cardie overseers worked the Bajoran labourers sometimes to death. Her mother had died down there, years ago, soon after they had first come to the station.
Miya was usually able to find some kind of odd job to do. That kept her safe from the random impressments of the unemployed that occurred every once in a while. She usually made enough to eat every day. Every Bajoran within the Bajoran sector got four meals a week 'courtesy of the Cardassian Union' but they could buy more 'ration points' every week on sixthday at a store front near the fence from an ancient collaborator who was always surrounded by at least five Cardassian guards and kept the line moving painfully slowly. No one was allowed to have more than eight of these meals a week 'in order to ensure more equitable distribution'. Even so there were never enough of the points to go round. Sometimes they didn't sell them and sometimes the free rations were cut down. Dukat, the Prefect and commander of the station, had raised them once, to six a week, just after he was appointed but that didn't last long. One Cardie restaurant owner had permission to sell food on the other side of the Galtera near the docking bay. It was much more expensive there and the food was even worse than the rations. There was also a black-market for fruit and tea, not to mention chemicals, but few people thought about such luxuries. Most had children to worry about feeding. You couldn't say much about Bajorans but they had a prolific birth-rate.
Even at this time of the station-day there was a line to collect rations. There was a line for everything on Terok Nor, they were all use to it by now. She ate the watery soup quickly and put the small piece of Dakur bread in to her pocket for Petya, she was pregnant again. Miya looked at the large chronometer near the food station. I was almost 03h00, if she got back to the community quarters soon she could get a few hours of sleep before the shift change. She was exhausted. She had spent the day hauling things in the main cargo bay and she didn't sleep at all last night.
She made her way down the Galtera as quickly as she could without attracting the attention of the armed guards on the second level. As she approached the long Corridor that lead to the Habitat Ring she slowed down and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. This was where off-duty Cardassian soldiers liked to come to stand around and leer at the women who walked by. Sometimes they did more than leer. Miya thanked the Prophets everyday that they had, thus far, left her alone. Her sister wasn't so lucky. There was only one of them today. He was leaning against the bulkhead munching on a piece of fruit. Miya could feel his eyes following her until she disappeared from view down the Corridor.
The quarters where Miya's family lived were quite big, but it was also full. More than thirty people lived there. There was her Uncle Cerro, his daughter Lene and his son Keran who was married to Petya. Keran and Petya had met in a detention cell after they were both picked up with some 40 others in a random search. It had been love at first sight and they were married soon afterwards in a silent ceremony between shifts. The Cardassians didn't like their religious ceremonies. Miya had always looked up the Petya and loved her like a mother, even though she was only a few years older than her. She and Keran had a two-year-old daughter named Gimiri. Miya had a sister, Kaylann, who was three years younger than her. They had had a brother, Kaylann's twin, but he died three years ago during a Fostossa virus epidemic. They never talked about him now, just like they never talked about their mother. As for the others, some were her friends whom she had grown up with and some she had never spoken to. She only ever saw her family for a few minutes a day, life on Terok Nor didn't allow for much more than work and sleep.
She found Petya sitting against the wall in the centre room, trying to mend a blanket that was so worn you could see through it. There were seven children in these quarters and Petya took care of them all while their parents worked. At least one of them was almost always ill. Miya wondered when she found time to eat or sleep; now that she was pregnant again she was sick with worry for her.
Petya looked up and smiled when she walked in.
"Did you eat something?" She asked her.
"I had some soup." Miya said, sitting down beside her.
"Then get some sleep." She commanded in a very motherly way after taking the bread that Miya offered her.
There was soft crying coming from one of the four adjacent rooms. Petya got up and when over to where her daughter lay. Miya followed, eager to share her news.
"I went over to the Ferengi's bar and he gave me a job." Petya looked as surprised as Miya thought she would be.
"For how long?"
"I'm not sure, long I hope." Petya was distracted from their conversation by Gimiri tugging on her sleeve.
"Momma I'm hungry!" Gimiri was a beautiful child and looked exactly like her father, with dark, curly hair and a round face, but she had her mother's blue eyes. She was demanding and quick to cry like all two-year-olds but everyone who knew her loved her.
"We'll go soon." Petya told her in a soothing voice. "Go wash your face." The little girl got up and ambled towards the small basin of water in the corner next to the feeble wall light. Close by a boy of about seven was playing with a ball made out of rags. A few sleeping figures were also in the small room, undisturbed by the noise.
Petya turned back to Miya and gave her a look of great concern.
"Be careful. And I'm not just talking about that disgusting Ferengi." Miya wasn't looking forward to be in the presence of so many drunken Spoonheads either but what choice did she have. It was better then ore-processing anyway.
"I'll be alright." She reassured her.
"I hope so...¨ Petya responded quietly. ¨Someone new came in today, I put him in your room." She said, changing the subject. Miya shrugged. There were already about eight people who slept in the same room as her already, she doubted one more would make much difference. It wasn't as if they were all ever there at the same time anyway. Gimiri came back to stand next to her mother and looked up expectantly. "All right let's go." Petya said, taking her daughter up in her arms. "You're coming too Nal" she called to the boy, who was so excited at the idea of food that he jumped up and ran out the door without saying anything. "Go to sleep Miya." She said sternly as she pulled aside the old ragged sheet that served as a door to the quarters and walked out.
Miya yawned and went into her room. Her sister was lying near the door snoring softly and the newcomer, a young man of about sixteen, was already asleep on Miya's usual mat. She shrugged and laid down on one against the wall at the far side of the room. She was asleep in a minute.
A few hours later the low booming sound that signalled the shift change was transmitted through out the entire Bajoran Sector and woke the sleepers. A mass of exhausted people came up from the bellows of the station, swallowed a few mouthfuls of nourishment and then collapsed onto the floor of their small, dark rooms. At the same time, another mass picked themselves up and marched down to take their place. A new day had begun on Terok Nor.
Author's Note:
This is my first fanfic ever and it really is my first attempt at fiction writing since I took that horrible writing class in high school. I know that my transitions are choppy and that my dialog is sometimes confusing and I ask you all for forgiveness. With any luck I will improve with time.
I have quite ambitious plans for this story and many more characters to introduce, including some cannon ones. I know it doesn't seem R worthy at the moment but I can promise it will be.
Please review. It would be nice to know that a few people read this.