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- Nov 6, 2020
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The Specter of War
"Very well. I'll instruct Glinn Jirrar to waive your maintenance fees."
Quark nods his head and smiles. "Excellent! I knew we could come to an agreement."
You nod, and leave the bar. Gambling and other such frivolity seems like a waste of time to you. You're a man on a mission, and that mission is to ensure the safety of you and yours, whatever it takes. You've learned that the hard way. You instead want to get back to work, to ensure that your future is a good one.
-----
"Yes, Skrain. The boys are fine. Mekor had an accident with the hoverbike again, but the doctors at the military hospital said he was ok. Other than that, they're fine."
You smile.
Your wife, Athra, knows how much you like to receive these verbal reports about your boys. Even if the news is a bit mundane. Family is everything to a Cardassian.
"Thank you, dear. That's all I needed to hear."
"I heard from Gul Marayn's wife that things along the border with the Federation are getting tense. Are we going to war?"
You sigh.
The Federation. A group of human and similar species who claim to believe in democracy and freedom. You remember when they first made first contact with the Cardassian Union. Full of promises of a better life for all involved.
How wrong they were.
The border disputes with the Federation began soon after first contact. Every small colony planet, every minor race seemed to fall under their protection.
They seem to think it's their duty to protect the galaxy from us. As if we're the evil ones for simply wanting to grow our empire and protect our own.
All the while, they grow larger and larger. Like a cancer, spreading through the stars.
The rumors that war is coming have been all-to-real for the past six months now. The hope at Central Command is that the Federation's habitually sour relations with the Klingon Empire will keep them too busy for a successful large-scale conflict. But you know nothing is guaranteed.
"I don't know. Regardless of what happens, Bajor is far from the border. And you and the children are safe on the homeworld. That's all I need to know."
Athra nods.
The two of you say your cordial goodbyes and end the call.
She's a practical woman, if not passionate. But then, the two of you have been married a long time. No passion lasts forever.
Your communicator suddenly chirps.
"Glinn Jirrar to Gul Dukat," Ral's voice says.
"Dukat here. What is it?"
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir. But Legate Kell is requesting to speak with you on a secure channel."
"Patch him through to my quarters."
"Yes, sir."
A moment passes. Then, the view screen in your quarters turns on once again, and the all to familiar face of Legate Kell appears on the screen with his usual stern expression.
"Dukat. I see you've already made yourself at home on Terok Nor. Settling in well, I trust?"
"As well as can be expected, Legate. What do you need?"
Kell leans forward a bit.
"High command is stepping up manufacturing for the entire Union. Especially warship manufacturing. We need more Uridium and we need it now. I'd like you to make sure mining operations on Bajor and its moons are running at peak efficiency. I want to double the current production outputs."
"Double, sir? That's..."
The legate nods his head.
"Double. This is very important, Dukat. Do what it takes. Kell out."
He disappears from the screen. You lean back in your chair and sigh.
Funny how everything seems to come back to war, in the end.
Maybe you should just resign yourself to that fact.
-----
You and Ral beam down to the surface of Bajor. You materialize in the Capitol Complex, which is now run by the Cardassian Occupation Administration, a bureaucratic branch of the military government that manages day-to-day affairs on the planet.
A young Cardassian woman approaches you.
"Gul Dukat? Glinn Jirrar?"
Ral nods.
"They're waiting for you. Right this way."
You are led to a private conference room overlooking the city. A number of people are seated inside at a large table, all Cardassian officers. They turn to you.
"Dukat." a round-faced, stocky man man says, waving you to a seat. "Finally decided to grace us with your presence, eh?"
You recognize this man as Gul Darhe'el, the Gul in charge of the Gallitep labor camp.
In fact, each of the twenty-three Guls at this table are in charge a mining labor camp. Either on Bajor or one if its five moons.
You haven't personally met any of them before now, but you've read their files.
"Gul Darhe'el. A pleasure to finally meet you."
"Call me Trekal," he says, waving his hand. "All my friends do."
You nod.
"If we're all here, let's get started," you say. "As you know, all know, I am Gul Dukat, Prefect of Bajor."
You watch as the Guls introduce themselves.
Gul Melak, a severe, dark-haired woman; Gul Tarl, a heavyset, middle-aged man; and numerous others.
Once everyone is done, you continue.
"I think you all know why you're gathered here. We need to discuss how we can double ore output within the next few months. There is talk of war with the Federation, and we need to be prepared. Now, I've sent each of you a file on your camp's productivity over the past year. I'd like to begin with a showing of what each of you has done in the past to increase your camp's efficiency, starting with Gul Darhe'el, since his camp has shown the most exemplarity production profile to date."
Trekal sits up a bit, and beams proudly.
"Well, thank you, Dukat. I've found that showing the workers that I'm watching them has a very strong effect. Private executions and public floggings have proven to be very effective motivation tools. Last month, I had a man whose quota was five tons and he only delivered four. Well, I had him shot dead in front of his family. The next day, his replacement handed in five tons."
You're taken aback.
"That's...a rather brutal philosophy, Gul," you say.
Trekal laughs.
"I'm just giving examples, Dukat. I'm sure the others have their own techniques for motivating workers."
You go around the table, asking each of the Guls to talk about their techniques and their ideas for increasing production. From what you can tell, most of them are doing something similar to Darhe'el, although less often and without the killing. One or two of the Guls are extremely humane, and try to encourage their workers with rewards and incentives, though their production is much lower.
Overall, the main ideas for increasing production revolve around pushing the workers harder, in much the same way that the Union has always done. The most extreme comments come from Melak and Darhe'el, who both not only suggest extending the workday to a minimum of sixteen hours for all laborers, but recommend sending entire families into the mines and only giving out food to those who meet their quotas, thus motivating people to work hard in order to feed their families.
You have to decide how you will increase production.
For existing workers...
A. You implement the brutal policies that have been shown to be effective in all camps, including executions.
B. You allow brutal punishments like beatings in all camps to continue, but forbid executions except in cases where one worker murders another or tries to escape.
C. You disallow brutality and instruct the Guls to implement policies of rewarding good behavior rather than motivating through fear.
For their work days...
A. You do not increase the amount of hours worked, even though this could be seen as directly disobeying orders, should your superiors find out.
B. You implement mandatory 12 hour days.
C. You implement mandatory 16 hour days.
D. Laborers are to be worked to death. More replacements are easy to come by.
In order to deal with any increase in mortality and to try to improve the number of available workers, you:
A. Increase the legal penalties of most laws to imprison more criminals in the camps.
B. Take low-skill laborers by force.
C. Offer a small sum of money in exchange for voluntary imprisonment and labor. The money can come in-part from the tax you levied earlier, though you would likely need to dip into other parts of the planetary budget to be effective.
D. Do nothing.
Regarding family imprisonment:
A. You allow for some family imprisonment, especially for severe crimes like sedition.
B. You encourage family imprisonment for most crimes.
C. You ban the imprisoning of families.
For Gul Darhe'el:
A. You praise his ingenuity.
B. You tell him to stop the killings, but say he may continue beating his prisoners if they merit it.
C. You order him to cease all brutality and submit a complaint about his behavior to Central Command to try to get him removed from his post.
(You do not have the authority to arrest him, since technically he is doing his job.)
"Very well. I'll instruct Glinn Jirrar to waive your maintenance fees."
Quark nods his head and smiles. "Excellent! I knew we could come to an agreement."
You nod, and leave the bar. Gambling and other such frivolity seems like a waste of time to you. You're a man on a mission, and that mission is to ensure the safety of you and yours, whatever it takes. You've learned that the hard way. You instead want to get back to work, to ensure that your future is a good one.
-----
"Yes, Skrain. The boys are fine. Mekor had an accident with the hoverbike again, but the doctors at the military hospital said he was ok. Other than that, they're fine."
You smile.
Your wife, Athra, knows how much you like to receive these verbal reports about your boys. Even if the news is a bit mundane. Family is everything to a Cardassian.
"Thank you, dear. That's all I needed to hear."
"I heard from Gul Marayn's wife that things along the border with the Federation are getting tense. Are we going to war?"
You sigh.
The Federation. A group of human and similar species who claim to believe in democracy and freedom. You remember when they first made first contact with the Cardassian Union. Full of promises of a better life for all involved.
How wrong they were.
The border disputes with the Federation began soon after first contact. Every small colony planet, every minor race seemed to fall under their protection.
They seem to think it's their duty to protect the galaxy from us. As if we're the evil ones for simply wanting to grow our empire and protect our own.
All the while, they grow larger and larger. Like a cancer, spreading through the stars.
The rumors that war is coming have been all-to-real for the past six months now. The hope at Central Command is that the Federation's habitually sour relations with the Klingon Empire will keep them too busy for a successful large-scale conflict. But you know nothing is guaranteed.
"I don't know. Regardless of what happens, Bajor is far from the border. And you and the children are safe on the homeworld. That's all I need to know."
Athra nods.
The two of you say your cordial goodbyes and end the call.
She's a practical woman, if not passionate. But then, the two of you have been married a long time. No passion lasts forever.
Your communicator suddenly chirps.
"Glinn Jirrar to Gul Dukat," Ral's voice says.
"Dukat here. What is it?"
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir. But Legate Kell is requesting to speak with you on a secure channel."
"Patch him through to my quarters."
"Yes, sir."
A moment passes. Then, the view screen in your quarters turns on once again, and the all to familiar face of Legate Kell appears on the screen with his usual stern expression.
"Dukat. I see you've already made yourself at home on Terok Nor. Settling in well, I trust?"
"As well as can be expected, Legate. What do you need?"
Kell leans forward a bit.
"High command is stepping up manufacturing for the entire Union. Especially warship manufacturing. We need more Uridium and we need it now. I'd like you to make sure mining operations on Bajor and its moons are running at peak efficiency. I want to double the current production outputs."
"Double, sir? That's..."
The legate nods his head.
"Double. This is very important, Dukat. Do what it takes. Kell out."
He disappears from the screen. You lean back in your chair and sigh.
Funny how everything seems to come back to war, in the end.
Maybe you should just resign yourself to that fact.
-----
You and Ral beam down to the surface of Bajor. You materialize in the Capitol Complex, which is now run by the Cardassian Occupation Administration, a bureaucratic branch of the military government that manages day-to-day affairs on the planet.
A young Cardassian woman approaches you.
"Gul Dukat? Glinn Jirrar?"
Ral nods.
"They're waiting for you. Right this way."
You are led to a private conference room overlooking the city. A number of people are seated inside at a large table, all Cardassian officers. They turn to you.
"Dukat." a round-faced, stocky man man says, waving you to a seat. "Finally decided to grace us with your presence, eh?"
You recognize this man as Gul Darhe'el, the Gul in charge of the Gallitep labor camp.
In fact, each of the twenty-three Guls at this table are in charge a mining labor camp. Either on Bajor or one if its five moons.
You haven't personally met any of them before now, but you've read their files.
"Gul Darhe'el. A pleasure to finally meet you."
"Call me Trekal," he says, waving his hand. "All my friends do."
You nod.
"If we're all here, let's get started," you say. "As you know, all know, I am Gul Dukat, Prefect of Bajor."
You watch as the Guls introduce themselves.
Gul Melak, a severe, dark-haired woman; Gul Tarl, a heavyset, middle-aged man; and numerous others.
Once everyone is done, you continue.
"I think you all know why you're gathered here. We need to discuss how we can double ore output within the next few months. There is talk of war with the Federation, and we need to be prepared. Now, I've sent each of you a file on your camp's productivity over the past year. I'd like to begin with a showing of what each of you has done in the past to increase your camp's efficiency, starting with Gul Darhe'el, since his camp has shown the most exemplarity production profile to date."
Trekal sits up a bit, and beams proudly.
"Well, thank you, Dukat. I've found that showing the workers that I'm watching them has a very strong effect. Private executions and public floggings have proven to be very effective motivation tools. Last month, I had a man whose quota was five tons and he only delivered four. Well, I had him shot dead in front of his family. The next day, his replacement handed in five tons."
You're taken aback.
"That's...a rather brutal philosophy, Gul," you say.
Trekal laughs.
"I'm just giving examples, Dukat. I'm sure the others have their own techniques for motivating workers."
You go around the table, asking each of the Guls to talk about their techniques and their ideas for increasing production. From what you can tell, most of them are doing something similar to Darhe'el, although less often and without the killing. One or two of the Guls are extremely humane, and try to encourage their workers with rewards and incentives, though their production is much lower.
Overall, the main ideas for increasing production revolve around pushing the workers harder, in much the same way that the Union has always done. The most extreme comments come from Melak and Darhe'el, who both not only suggest extending the workday to a minimum of sixteen hours for all laborers, but recommend sending entire families into the mines and only giving out food to those who meet their quotas, thus motivating people to work hard in order to feed their families.
You have to decide how you will increase production.
For existing workers...
A. You implement the brutal policies that have been shown to be effective in all camps, including executions.
B. You allow brutal punishments like beatings in all camps to continue, but forbid executions except in cases where one worker murders another or tries to escape.
C. You disallow brutality and instruct the Guls to implement policies of rewarding good behavior rather than motivating through fear.
For their work days...
A. You do not increase the amount of hours worked, even though this could be seen as directly disobeying orders, should your superiors find out.
B. You implement mandatory 12 hour days.
C. You implement mandatory 16 hour days.
D. Laborers are to be worked to death. More replacements are easy to come by.
In order to deal with any increase in mortality and to try to improve the number of available workers, you:
A. Increase the legal penalties of most laws to imprison more criminals in the camps.
B. Take low-skill laborers by force.
C. Offer a small sum of money in exchange for voluntary imprisonment and labor. The money can come in-part from the tax you levied earlier, though you would likely need to dip into other parts of the planetary budget to be effective.
D. Do nothing.
Regarding family imprisonment:
A. You allow for some family imprisonment, especially for severe crimes like sedition.
B. You encourage family imprisonment for most crimes.
C. You ban the imprisoning of families.
For Gul Darhe'el:
A. You praise his ingenuity.
B. You tell him to stop the killings, but say he may continue beating his prisoners if they merit it.
C. You order him to cease all brutality and submit a complaint about his behavior to Central Command to try to get him removed from his post.
(You do not have the authority to arrest him, since technically he is doing his job.)
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