Kira Nerys had been wondering what took the Cardassians so long to come for her. She had been kept in a tiny room with only a slip of moss-colored cloth covering her body. She was given water but no food for three days. There was only a bucket in the corner of the room to serve as her lavatory. She was grateful she could only make water and only had to deal with the smell of urine. The room got no heat and was so cold she could see her breath whenever she sighed.
They collected her and brought her before her interrogator. The room was as chilly as her prison and the chair they sat her in was made of cold metal with straps on it. The Cardassian had a desk with a single light on it and a tray of drugs and torture tools nearby. He was wearing extra layers of warm cloth under his armor so he looked more padded than the average Cardassian. She thought it made him look a little silly and clung to that humorous thought, trying not to notice the torture tools.
"Kira Nerys?" he spoke her name.
She refused to acknowledge him.
He touched the light as it lit, "What color is this light?"
She stared blankly at him. She wasn't going to play this game. She knew the standard protocol of these interrogations. It was best not to say anything, not even snarky comments. She was clutching a tiny blue bottle in one of her hands. For some reason, the Cardassians had forgotten to strip search her thoroughly and she had managed to keep her numbing agents. She was as prepared for pain as she could possibly be. She was determined to hold out as long as she could. They said everyone eventually broke under Cardassian torturers, but there had to be a first time for everything.
"Take off your clothes!"
She gave him a defiant look.
The Cardassian rose and ripped the slip from her, exposing her entirely. She shuddered from the cold but refused to be ashamed even when he hissed at her and leered. She had expected just such a thing and the cloth hadn't hidden or warmed much of her skin anyway.
"What color was the light?" he asked again.
They stared at each other a good fifteen minutes in heavy silence. He was attempting to rape her with his eyes, mind and body. When a man was stripped, it didn't seem to bother them nearly as much as it did women. They acted as though simply being seen naked was a violation. Not Kira. She looked bored.
"Who are the other members of your Resistance Cell?"
She folded her arms across her breasts, tapped a foot, and began mouthing Bajoran hymns, refusing to make a sound.
"Stubborn Bajoran bitch, eh?" the interrogator said gleefully.
She shrugged.
The Cardassian raised a hose and blasted her with scalding hot, pressurized water. It was a shock and painful because her skin was so clammy and cold. She was so thirsty that she opened her mouth and drank some of it. She was drenched quickly and the water was shut off promptly. Her red hair dripped and her fingers dripped. Her skin was wet, red, and glistening.
"What color was the light?"
Instead of blasting her, he began to approach her with a needle. Kira panicked a little. She was convinced some of the real torture was about to begin. She swallowed her numbing agent in a lightning fast gulp. The Cardassian's face was stricken with fear, not concern.
"Nerys, what did you just take?" he demanded. "What did you do?"
She almost laughed.
He feared she had taken cyanide or some other suicide drug. If a torturer killed a victim or allowed them to die carelessly, they were severely punished. The Cardassian cradled her for a moment, checking underneath her eyelids and forcing open her mouth. He shoved a funnel with a little rubber hose down her throat to induce vomiting and pump her stomach if he had to, but the agent was swimming in her blood now.
He succeeded in making her vomit violently. As she heaved in the corner, the Cardassian waved a poison snooper over the blue bottle. She had let it fall to the floor. He was relieved that it wasn't identified as a known poison, and Kira showed no signs of expiring. He would have to test the trace amounts of solution later.
He sprayed away the vomit and scalded Kira again for good measure. Then he placed her back into the chair, strapped her in it, and he blindfolded her. He mixed a cocktail of drugs. Its main purpose was to remove Kira's inhibitions and break her silence. She felt woozy a few minutes after he injected her and her tongue was loosened. She'd make the Cardassian regret that.
"What color was the light?" the Cardassian tried again.
"Blue, but I'm sure you want me to eventually say it's red, right?" she snapped.
"Are you Kira Nerys?"
"I'm a stubborn Bajoran bitch! That's what you said! And you are a torturer!"
"Who is your leader?"
"Ah, yeah, I'm not telling!"
He slapped her around a bit, but they seemed like light taps rather than heavy blows. She was a little confused. She didn't think her numbing agents was that good? Even a light tap near her nose caused some bleeding at her ridges. Bajoran noses were so sensitive!
"Go ahead!" she gnashed her teeth. "Beat me and ruin my value as a comfort woman!"
"That's what you should have allowed!" the torturer stopped to say. "With that lovely hair and body, you would have been pampered! I would take you myself. You would never miss a meal, you could soak in warm fragrant water, and you would sleep in the most comfortable bed money could buy. You might even be loved!"
"Love?" she snickered. "Cardassians think that word and concept is too sentimental and archaic! I don't want to experience your concept of it! Never!"
"Stupid slut!"
Nerys cackled at him, "This is the reason why not even your own women want you! I prefer Klingon men! Now there's an impressive empire with a warrior race! I think they'd annihilate Cardassia in a war! That's why you rape the planet of a peaceful people instead!"
"Bajor is a tactical choice," the torturer scoffed. "That barbarian race have rocks for brains. Cardassia never loses, and you've never had a Klingon!"
"Sure I have! I've had Ferengi too! I'd rather have one of those ugly trolls inside me than a Cardassian!" Kira hooted.
"You are a virgin!" the torturer declared. "And a poor liar."
"You don't know that! You couldn't possibly know that!"
He was right in her ear and his hand on her arm, "Oh, we know, Nerys! We have more information on you than you could imagine! We can also smell better than your species. Our senses in these particular matters are quite heightened and accurate."
"How stimulating!" she said sarcastically. "Still not interested!"
"I know you have a brother named Reon. We have him. Would you like to see him executed? How about your father Taban on Bajor? We could go pick him up for you."
"Show them to me! Until I see them alive with my own eyes, I'm not falling for the threats to loved ones!"
"Clever whore."
"Am I clever or stupid? Make up your mind!"
"Do you wish to die, Nerys?"
"It wouldn't be the end of the universe," she said flippantly. "I'll release my pagh out into it."
"You know that doesn't exist. You would die here and that would be the end."
"That's why you'll lose this war for Bajor, Cardassian! None of you believe anything is sacred. You'll give up when there's nothing material to fight for. It's why you carry out selfish and immoral orders. It's why none of you ever seem to be truly happy or value life!"
"Dying is easy. Breaking your body might make you talk."
"Talk, but not necessarily say whatever you want!"
Nerys expected terrible pain. She was waiting for it. Thank the Prophets for the aid of chemicals. But the Cardassian didn't reach for his torture tools, not that she could hear of it. He unclasped her bonds, tugged her by her long red hair and pressed her against the wall. She felt his foul hot breath in her face. His voice became husky and cruel.
"Spread your legs!" he ordered.
"No."
"Talk or I will rape you and bring more men in here after me! You really will be ruined forever as a comfort woman when we are through with you!"
She shuddered but answered, "It's not the end of the universe!"
"It will be the end of your universe!"
"Stop threatening it!" she shouted. "Just do it and get it over with! There's no way you'll last longer than this conversation has gone on!"
He yanked her hair and bit savagely into her throat, leaving teeth marks in her skin. She felt no pain but was repulsed. Then he wedged his knee between her legs and wiggled them apart and let his knee remain there for a full minute. He was panting like an animal in her ear. She didn't know how much longer the drugs and numbing agents would last.
How many men would it take before she felt it in her most sensitive parts? She had no clue, but she knew the Cardassians. They would probably use every man in the barracks. She'd feel it perhaps by the third man or the fifth or the tenth. It was too easy to brutalize her in this way and the Cardassians got too much out of it.
She heard the torturer fumbling with his belt and almost sobbed. She had been trying to avoid just this thing for so long. She braced herself, but the Cardassian seemed to be hesitating. She preferred that he hurry so no moment of her agent would be wasted. She was a virgin, but she could tell he wanted it! What the hell was he waiting for?
They heard gunfire, shouting, death cries, and other sounds of battle, interrupting this terrible interrogation. Nerys recognized some of the voices and her heart leaped. The door to the torture room was opened. Her captor released her to utilize his weapon, but Kira snapped his neck ridge in just the right place. He keeled over dead instantly. Even blindfolded, she found that weak spot. Now that she knew the prison was under attack and her allies were there, she knew she could get away with killing him and didn't hesitate.
"Prophets, Nerys!"
"Edon?"
Her body was breaking down. She'd used the last of her strength to kill her tormenter. Shakaar Edon caught her in his arms as she began to fall. She was still naked and wet. She was famished and weak. She'd had enough of being brave and tough. With Shakaar's arms around her and his rough voice in her ear, she began to cry like a little girl and the only coherent words she could sob was his name.
"Edon! Edon! Edon!"
"Nerys! Oh, Nerys! It's alright! You're safe now! You're safe, I promise! It's alright!" Shakaar soothed and rocked her.
"Kira?" Sisica was there.
"Please get her some proper clothes, will you?"
"On it!"
Shakaar took the blindfold off her and wrapped his coat around her like a blanket and tried to rub some warmth into her bones. She was still sobbing pitifully and repeating his name. He repeated hers back at her and kept rocking her for a long time. She'd never forget that harrowing interrogation or the tenderness her leader showed her. She didn't break for the Cardassians either and was glad when she saw the reptilian body lying on the floor.