Note: I kid you not, THIS is the chapter I have had in planning since the very beginning and at last the time has come. Having said that I hope it doesn't disappoint because man did I ever have such a vision for this. I do want everyone to know I have taken some liberties with ages and filled in a LOT of blanks since as far as I know we know from canon that Dukat has a wife Athra, 8 kids (including Ziyal) and one is named Mekor. As you can imagine that gave me a lot of room here. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this because crap's about tot hit the fan big :)
"You're late, Tekenny." The rebuke comes from a young Cardassian woman seated on a large sofa, drumming her fingers on an end table. Her leg bounces impatiently as she glares up at the young Cardassian man entering the room. She is clad in the uniform of the second order, black from head to toe, her face severe as she tracks his lazy movements to sit on the large arm of that same sofa. He pays her little attention as he turns to the sofa's other occupant. Another woman sits, Cardassian but only half so, the ridges on her nose revealing her clear Bajoran half as well. She greets him instead with a smile as she moves forward, keeping the two from glaring at each other.
"Nelissa was worried you wouldn't make it, brother. We know your work keeps you busy-"
"I can speak for myself, Ziyal," Nelissa snaps as she attempts to look around and fix Tekenny with a heated glare. "This lazy first son can afford to waste his days chasing women and writing bad poetry. The only time that he has is free time. The rest of us have work for our station."
Tekenny laughs softly, crossing a leg underneath a large colorful patchwork of a shirt. His long hair is pulled back, slick though hardly careful. A few errant strands whip about defiantly. He looks across to another young man studiously looking at a datapad, seated on the floor in front of a low table.
"Is that what you call it when father secures you a spot in the second order? Now Mekor here knows a little something about work. It is not easy being father's shadow. The figure he casts if far greater than Mekor's stature." Mekor, still looking hard at the PADD in front of him barely spares a glance for his brother. He scrolls down further, one leg crossed, the other a knee raised almost childishly as he snorts in answer with a shake of his head. He's short, face seemingly screwed into a perpetually worried expression as his finger picks absently at the high collar of the brown tunic.
"You would not scoff if you really understood the burden on my shoulders, brother. With the Detapa Council having seized control of the government, Father has had to rely on me a considerable amount more." Mekor turns to his left, to an exceptionally slim young woman in a modest plum dress, kneeling beside him, sipping daintily from a tall glass of rokassa juice. "Father will not be back until dark but you know that there is much that I must do in his stead. I would prefer if we do not tarry, Zorana."
"Yes," Nelissa chimes in with an enthusiastic move forward. "You called us here, Zorana, what's going on with the snake?"
"Yes, the snake!" Two twin voices hovering between child and woman chime in enthusiastically at the same time. On a large settee, one bounces and then another in tandem before looking at each other quickly, sheepishly.
"Is he dead?" From the girl on the right, dressed in a silver school uniform, a small emblem of the Cardassian Union sewn into the corner along with the family crest, trimmed in green around the collar and sleeves. The garment is fitted, a belt holding with several small loops for other devices woven in, another insignia, for the science ministry on the buckle, pants tucked neatly into black boots.
"I told you it would definitely kill him," her twin, identically dressed, separated by only a red band in her hair, agrees.
"Of course, children would think so," the last in the room, a young woman with impossibly long hair stands by the window, carefully refreshing the pale blue to her forehead in a small mirrored compact. "But Zorana always has always liked these ridiculous, pointless plots. Just another chance to show everyone how clever she is." There's a disdainful sniff that follows the statement. The kneeling woman, Zorana, tenses just a bit at the criticism but doesn't rise to the bait.
"I knew exactly what I was doing when I volunteered to be first, Oranda," she answers cooly. "My plan is for the end game and I needed to set it into motion."
"It was unnecessarily complicated," Mekor agrees as he continues his reading.
"So the bastard snake's still alive," Nelissa practically hisses excited.
"You say that as if it's your turn next. Doesn't our darling baby brother hold that honor?" Tekenny laughs again. "Here's your chance, Mekor. Cut off the head of the snake and the prize is yours."
"Father already favors me," Mekor replies loftily. "I do not need to kill Elim Garak like the rest of you for a few extra crumbs from the table."
"And yet here you sit, with the rest of us like starving regnars." Oranda looks over the mirror briefly to Nelissa. "That's what he called us, isn't it sister?"
"Scavengers," Nelissa agrees, "fighting over bones." She shakes a finger at him. "Better to fight over bones and die with dignity than to feast off the scraps of carrion that fall from the hound's jaws."
"Says the barren bramini," the girl with the headband chimes in sweetly. The moment the words leave her mouth Ziyal stands hotly.
"Kasella!" the girl, Kasella shrinks back in response with a duck of her head. Her twins opens her mouth but shuts it again when Ziyal turns that same motherly glare on her. "Illiana. Don't." A petulant bob of her head and Illiana too remains silent. Ziyal smooths the skirts of the long aqua dress as she sits back down. "Really, I don't know where you learned those words," she mumbles fixing Nelissa with a small frown, already knowing the answer.
"Of course it's not about father," Tekenny agrees putting an arm around her. "It's about what the snake has done to our beloved sister." His face remains relaxed, easy, but there's a steel in his voice as his eyes sweep the room that dares any of them to contradict him.
"I'm certain Mekor would say it's to avenge the family honor," Oranda interjects with a toss of her head. "Fancy that, Mekor talking about honor."
"Does the motive matter so long as the end result remains the same?" Mekor sounds almost bored.
"We'll see what you have to say when I kill him and father names me head of the family assets. We'll see the lot of you naysayers begging me for a monthly stipend then," Oranda boasts.
"Spell stipend," Mekor challenges while Zorana snickers softly into the mouth of the glass.
"The lot of you think I'm stupid. You'll be sorry soon enough." Oranda snaps the compact closed with a huff, drawing her shoulders back imperiously, the low cut bodice of the fitted dress hugged snugly to her bosom.
"We don't think, we know you're stupid," Kasella chimes in. Illiana gives a mocking shake of her chest, both girls giggling behind their hands at the glare. Ziyal sighs.
"I do wish you all wouldn't fight," she says with a shake of her head.
"You sound like mother," Nelissa teases with a light poke to Ziyal's side.
"You take that back!" Ziyal swats at her childishly.
"She does sound like mother," Illiana agrees.
"You wouldn't even know she's not really-" Kasella shuts her mouth immediately as the room turns pin drop quiet. She retreats back into the seat, eyes wide.
"Who told you that?!" Nelissa is on her feet quickly practically stalking over to the two of them. Both twins point furiously to Oranda who steps back quickly. Nelissa fixes her with a furious glare. "Why don't we settle this then, sister?" Oranda draws a short dagger as Nelissa advances.
"Don't underestimate me, sister," Oranda bites back at her.
"We agreed not to speak of this," Zorana snaps looking up at the both of them. "We are all family and we need to remember that or we're playing right into the snake's hands."
The two of them look at her, both poised to strike. Ziyal claps her hands loudly.
"Stop, both of you!" The oldest of the eight, Ziyal, even the half breed commands that respect. The two sisters standing down reluctantly.
"You shouldn't have told them, Oranda," Zorana offers that rebuke. "We all agreed that the fewer who know the truth, the safer it is."
"You say the truth as if the snake has never lied a day in his life," Mekor mutters half to himself.
"You believed him."
"I believed father's face when Ziyal confronted him about it." There is silence again to that admission, the seven looking at Ziyal almost uneasily. The snake, Elim Garak revealed that Ziyal was not the daughter of Athra Dukat and some nameless Bajoran houseboy as they'd all been raised to believe, but in fact the daughter of Skrain Dukat and his Bajoran mistress, Tora Naprem who died during her birth. Dukat's face upon that question from Ziyal left no doubt as to the truth; Athra had taken that public shame to save her husband's career.
"And mother called it a vicious lie, now let that be the end of it." Ziyal frowns hard at them all. "Half is half," she says with a small forced laugh. "It doesn't really matter which half now, does it?"
"Mother is mother. Father is father. Family is Cardassian," Tekenny recites the line from one of his newer works, that overdone prose breaking the tension as the twin burst into giggles and Mekor shakes his head in disgust.
"Perhaps it is the eldest simpleton who is half Bajoran," he quips, the serious expression never leaving his face."
"Say that when the snake is dead," Tekenny fires back. "It's your turn next, brother. Ah, but if our cunning Zorana couldn't do it, my hopes for you are pitifully low."
"As are father's for you." The two men glare at each other, Zorana coughing to interrupt them.
"Oranda says the word clever like it's one of her beloved poisons, but none of you realize just how important cunning, how critical the end game is."
"Spoken like a true member of the Order," Tekenny declares with a flourish. Zorana smiles back at him prettily.
"Brother, you know that the Order no longer exists," she chides academically.
"Then where do you still keep disappearing to, sister?" Oranda accuses.
"Father knows, and that's what matters, sister. And like father, I know the value of strategy. You all wanted to know why the games, why set up the snake to appear as someone else, why the trouble? It's simple. With the Order disbanded, with no one remaining to come to his aid, I erased him. Elim Garak, the snake, is dead. But I alone, obtained the intelligence on that world. I learned what I needed to know. And that is the flow of information is very particular. And once I established that the snake is this Marritza, it was all too easy to set the bounty. There is a woman on that world, a bounty hunter, Kira Nerys who takes all Cardassian bounties. And she doesn't rest once she does."
"There's a rumor she's after father next," Nelissa interjects.
"That is because her mother Kira Meru was one of Father's Bajoran whores," Mejor says blandly. "With as many woman as Father was known to have during the occupation..." He looks up for the first time at Ziyal's face as soon as the words are spoken. His mouth closes tightly and he inclines his head. "I did not mean-"
"It's..." Ziyal swallows before leaning forward to the pitcher of water on the table. It's the closest that Mekor will ever come to an apology. She manages a small smile as she pours the glass. "It's nothing, brother," she says barely above a whisper. Mekor ignores a glare from Zorana as she continues.
"As I was saying, the point was to set the stage for the snake's death. And it's done. if the lot of you weren't so impatient, we could sit back and wait. Every bounty hunter on Westworld, and every desperate man and woman there will want him dead. The snake cannot escape the entire planet. It's only a matter of time. In a few months the bounty will raise; I'll put up the money and we'll see."
"He'll be dead before then," Mekor declares switching screens on the PADD. "I took what you gave me. He's contacted Lok; I have the communication that you intercepted. The trap can be set now."
"He asked you for help?!" Oranda practically screeches, and the rest look at Zorana with unfriendly eyes.
"I settle my debts," Zorana says indifferently. "That's all you need to know." She takes another slow drink speaking to Mekor. "And that's all the help that you're getting from me. Guls help you if you cannot manage to kill him with my hand holding you this far."
"I could've helped you, brother," Oranda pouts leaning against the frame of the door to the balcony.
"With what, styling his hair?" Nelissa looks thoughtful as Oranda sulks. "And who will you send? Even past his prime the snake is cunning, and fights best when backed into a corner."
"Certainly none of your subordinates. I have no desire to quarrel with you over the spoils of victory."
"I'll be waiting for you to fail. And you will Mekor. You're a bureaucrat, not a killer." Theres a small smirk on Mekor's face at that statement.
"That may be true. But a good bureaucrat knows killers."
"You know how to polish Father's scales," Nelissa retorts. Two loud bursts of laughter from the couch prompt a snappy remark from Oranda.
"And what will the two children do? Lock him in a closet and call him names?"
"You're just mad that we're gonna kill him first," Kasella taunts.
"Just in time for Father's birthday," Illiana agrees.
"And you'll have to buy Father another broach that he wont wear."
"Or another tunic that he gives to Mekor." More giggles follow and Oranda makes an annoyed click of irritation.
"If that's settled then." Zorana interrupts with a slow, elegant unfurl to her feet, stretching. "Then We shouldn't need to convene again until there is more news. It's decided. Mekor shall try for the snake next. Are there any objections?" She looks around the room until her eyes settle in Ziyal. All eyes turn to her once more and she shakes her head.
"It's not for me, I've already told you that. It's for Father. For our family. That's all that matters, right?" She stands, Tekenny leaning in to let their cheeks brush affectionately.
"Our sister is right of course, that is all that matters," he declares, Mekor too rises with a dismissive toss of his head.
"Yes, our noble brother, avenging our sister's honor. Perhaps you and Nelissa are part Klingon, after all." Nelissa bristles but Tekenny waves him off as he makes for the door brushing past far too closely, aggressively.
"Say what you will, brother, but when the lot of you fail, I will gladly step in so poor Ziyal doesn't have to kill the snake herself."
And there's a click of heels on the hard floor as Ziyal steps forward purposefully, sure to have all of their attention as she speaks.
"You say that as if... as if that would be a terribly hard thing, as if the worst thing that man did was seduce me into his bed," she says softly, steel interlacing her voice as she faces each of them. They turn away from that simmering fury in her eyes, the pain lanced through almost unbearable to meet head on. "No, if I have to. I will." She pushes past to the door, only lingering a moment, her shoulders tense as her nails scrape the trim of the frame.
"Or have you all forgotten already, that Elim Garak killed our child?"
I know there might be some confusion with this so I'll give a brief overview (I had to make a chart myself). Dukat's children in this are, name, sex and age:
Ziyal 28/f
Tekenny 26/m
Nelissa 25/f
Mekor 21/m
Zorana 20/f
Oranda 17/f
Kasella 12/f (twin)
