The Casualty «Dukat/Damar & OFC» 🔞 ✔️

17. Downsides of heroism

Nyran was relieved that Arem did not suspect anything, but their conversation left a bitter taste on her tongue. She passionately hated the lies and the pretense, but the fear of hurting him and making their lives unbearable while in close quarters was making her go on as planned.

The truth was, having Damar so close all the time in such an unusually casual environment felt a lot different than coming to see him at work. At least then she knew she could just find another job if things got too intense to handle.

Now... they were literally living together.

It was a big cave and it held a lot of people, but there were no doors, no real privacy. The restrooms and showers were communal, although Damar did his best to ensure no male soldiers could freely ogle the few present females, while they were naked*. Even ranks did not hold such a meaning anymore. She felt exposed and... tempted. Whenever Arem was away, she spent hours fantasizing about all the ways she could visit Damar when he was alone in his appointed sleeping area and sneak under his blanket...

If there was more power to go around and sonic showers were rationed more generously than ten minutes per person stretched over two weeks, it would have been an even larger issue. Fortunately for their efforts to keep their hands off each other, she felt too grimy and gross most of the time to even sleep with Arem, who was right beside her most nights.

The gleam of becoming heroes who fight for the freedom of their people wore off very soon. It was a tough and dirty job, and not just because it involved killing. The only comforts were the people surrounding each other, capable of offering support whenever things got too heavy to bear.

Which was one of the things that made her yearn for Damar's closeness even more. She was fine -- she had a partner, that 'someone' who was there for her when her morale hit a low. Damar did not. She felt lonely just thinking about how it must be for him.

They used to talk almost every day before all this hell broke loose, but now they were being so careful to not give away their real feelings it was hard to find a moment to be really relaxed and open with each other. People just kept walking into rooms whenever they felt like it, with no doors to keep them away. Most of them paid little attention to them, but Nyran was sure there were those who would tell Arem about anything out of the ordinary, like way too familiar things his girlfriend was doing with their leader.

To make matters worse on everyone, the food supplies were running low. Kira's arrival was great news to her at that point. Winning this war and driving the Dominion away was probably the only solution to all that growing tension and discomfort, so the sooner she taught them how to fight, the better.

.

Damar sent Nyran to meet their Federation allies and bring them in. Their shuttle landed a few meters from the entrance and they brought supplies with them. They did not look particularly happy to be there, but the fiery gloss in Garak's eyes was enough for her to know just how much he cared to make their endeavor successful**.

"I was wondering if I'd find you here," Kira gave her a small smile. "Looks like we're not that different after all. Except I chose to fight for my own people, instead of the ones who took everything away from me."

"Always the judge, Commander -- congratulations, by the way," Nyran smirked sourly. "Isn't that your Prophet's job, to deem what's right or wrong, and not yours?"

"Aw, come here, you sassy girl," she grunted and pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm glad you're alive and well. I'm sorry about how things ended with Dukat, but I'm happy they did. I warned you, but honestly, even I didn't see that coming."

Nyran was surprised by her warmth; she was not very nice to Kira the last time they spoke and she thought Kira simply decided to condemn her for not breaking off the engagement. Her embrace felt unexpectedly welcome.