Author: kira-nerys
Title: Duty Before Dishonor
Challenge: Call of Duty Challenge
Series: DS9
Rating: G
Summary: Jake’s got the interview of a lifetime with Legate Damar
Note: Geeze, it’s been so long since I saw any Deep Space Nine that I forget whether Damar was ever in charge on Deep Space Nine before he died. If not, consider him a guest on the station in this little snippet. /Kira
Pairing: N/A, Damar, Jake Sisko.
Feedback: kira at kardasi dot com

DUTY BEFORE DISHONOR

“Come!” said a dark voice behind the sliding doors and they parted. Jake stepped in with a pad and a pen in his hand, feeling utterly nervous. Behind the door sat Legate Damar, the leader of Cardassia with a bottle of Kanaar in his hand and a glass in the other.

“Sit,” he continued and nodded toward the chair in front of the desk. “I believe you wanted an interview, boy.”

“Yes, I did. I wanted to talk to you to get a view on the war from a Cardassian stand point,” Jake said, trying to not make his voice break. It had been doing that a lot lately.

“I see,” Legate Damar said and walked over to the porthole, looking toward Bajor, which hung like a blue-green jewel in the middle of space. “So you would like me to tell you why we are fighting this battle?”

“Yes,” Jake said.

Legate Damar poured his glass full of the syrupy liquid and Jake wrinkled his nose. Even here, where he was sitting, he could smell the sour scent of expensive Kanaar. But no matter how expensive it was, Jake suspected it still made the legate a drunkard. His eyes were dilated and his speech slurred. It was pretty much the middle of station night, and Jake had been asleep when he got the call from Legate Damar, accepting the interview he’d been wanting for a very long time now. He’d tried with Dukat, but the older, meaner Cardassian had simply laughed at him.

“That is a very good question, son,” Legate Damar said, turning toward him and pointing an accusatory finger at him. “You think. That is good. One should always think before one accepts such an important mission.”

“Yes...?” said Jake, shifting uncomfortably in the chair. This wasn’t really what he had been expecting. Interviewing a Cardassian was bad enough, but interviewing one that was drunk as a skunk was even worse.

Damar turned back toward the port hole and said. “We fight this war because it is expected of us, Jake. We fight it because we are warriors and because we don’t like to be defeated.”

Jake swallowed. Those didn’t seem like good reasons at all, and Damar turned toward him again. “It does sound pathetic doesn’t it? We fight because it is our duty, and a Cardassian would rather die before he shirks his duty.”

END

Canonically incorrect:
Damar was never in charge of DS9, he was only second in command after Dukat.