Lost

Mixie wasn’t sure what had woken her up the next morning. The cold bit through the blankets at her, causing her to curl up more. The memorable night she shared with Dukat came back to her, making her smile despite herself. Dukat, that was what was missing. She shifted where she laid and glanced around the cave for him- or the phaser. Both items were no where to be seen. Bracing herself against the cold she shrugged out of the blankets, only to wrap her shaking body back up in them once she was fully dressed again. One never realized how much they needed heat until they had little to work with. Still wrapped up, Mixie cautiously eased out of the cave. It was clear by the cup and the plate as well as the old fire that someone had been there at one point in time. Mixie was just forced to wonder firstly if they could come back and secondly if they were friendly. She also vaguely wondered if Dukat had left her. If he thought she was this Meru woman, who he clearly had feelings for, then surely he wouldn’t go for or be gone too long. Mixie knelt by one of the few shrubs growing and plucked a leaf from it, examining it closely.

“Now I know the rations aren’t the best, but weeds?” Mixie looked up and saw Dukat standing above her, looking down from one of the rocks. He grinned slightly and shifted. “I found the previous occupants of the cave.” He told her before tossing two black bags down to the ground. They were old and torn in many places, but were bulky with what Mixie presumed to be camping gear. She knelt and took one, doing a quick search of it. There was clothing, some kind of primitive explosive, a type of hard food that she didn’t recognize, and several other items most commonly used in camping. “I don’t see anything indicating a communicator. Nothing here looks modern at all, who do you think they were?” She asked, pausing while Dukat scaled down the rocks and landed easily by her. He picked up the other bag, examining it, and shook his head. “I don’t know, although one of them was murdered.” He stated and swung the bookbag he had over his shoulder.

“Murdered?” Mixie asked frowning and took off the blanket, rolling it up and stuffing it in the bookbag. She swung it onto her back in the same manner that he had before taking the hand he offered out.
‘Yes, murdered. His skull was bashed in and, who I’m assuming was his companion, took a nasty stumble shortly after that. He tripped on something and went over a small cliff that was there. It broke his neck.” He explained as they went on their way from the cave.

Mixie didn’t answer back and they walked on for a few minutes in silence. “Where are we going now?” She finally asked, having some clothing and she was sure more rations back at the shuttle. Either way, when the Federation came looking for them, they would get the signal from the shuttle, assuming she did it right, and expect them to be close to it. Perhaps that was his plan, to get as far from it as possible but did he really expect to survive? So far the only signs of any life, at any time, were the other hikers and they didn’t even know who or why they were here. Maybe this planet was really a penal colony, and the prison was off in the distance. Those two fellows could have been escaped prisoners. Maybe they were a vacationing couple who had a ship coming back for them, but some kind of mental sickness took hold of one, causing him or her to kill their mate.
“I thought we would just keep walking until we found something. There HAS to be something here if there were two others before.” Dukat said, helping Mixie when she stumbled slightly. “Well I was thinking maybe we should go back to the shuttle then come back here. There are more rations that we can get, I have some stuff, and I’m sure we can use several things from it.” Mixie replied and glanced at him. Dukat watched her for a moment before nodding. “I suppose you are right, but we won’t stay long.” He warned her, apparently seeming to read her thoughts on where the Federation would look first. Mixie nodded, not going to push anything with him.

Dukat would occasionally ask Mixie questions, and she would answer as honestly as she could, just adjusting her story to fit that of a Bajoran’s, at least what she thought would be a Bajoran’s. The two hours it had taken them to get there before seemed to go quicker- partly due to conversation but also now that Dukat had the phaser he walked a little more purposely.
‘-when I was 19 I got pregnant, but I lost it shortly into the term.” Mixie had found herself revealing things to him that she hadn’t to anyone else. “I expect that happened through much of the occupation, especially with children who had a Cardassian mother or father.” With such a sincerely sorrowful tone it was so hard for Mixie to believe that this man was responsible for so much pain. The only violence he had really shown her was right after he took the phaser from her but, even then, he made love to her- to Meru, right after. She shook her head to herself as she started to top another hill. Surely he couldn’t be that bad.

Mixie gasped when she felt Dukat grab her arms and swing her around, her right shoulder hitting the rock face that had just been to her left. She opened her mouth to protest when his hand came up and smothered her voice. Mixie reminded herself not to panic. That was the worst thing to do. She jerked her arm, trying to free herself from him. He might kill her for it, but at least she would have tried. Dukat’s grip on her arm increased and he pulled her against him. “Someone is at the shuttle. They aren’t Star Fleet. Do Not scream.” He hissed in her ear. Mixie considered not listening, but didn’t scream and nodded slightly that she understood. She would look, and if it was, she would scream anyway. Slowly she felt Dukat remove his hand and loosened his grip on her. As if to remind her he held his finger to his lips before easing up to look over the small hill. Mixie followed suit and got a sickening defeated feeling in the pit of her stomach.

It looked like about 30 worker ants in a colony. The aliens who were dismantling the shuttle below all wore the same uniform- a black, combat style suit with boots and on the arms, a white circular patch. She couldn’t see the design well enough to see what the symbol stood for. They had dragged everything out of the shuttle and were currently going through the bags. Mixie saw her bag, with her clothing, her shoes and her lacy nightgown. The man holding the night gown was laughing and shaking it a bit. “That’s my gown.” Mixie’s expression was somewhat indignant as she muttered those words. Dukat glanced to her with a faint smirk. “It would look much better on it’s owner.” He muttered and looked back to the people below. Mixie regarded him another moment before looking back down again. Apparently they hadn’t noticed them.

“I don’t remember hearing anything about a hail, do you think they are space fearing?” She whispered, not going to talk too loud incase the species had excellent hearing. Dukat looked over at her, about to answer when a shadow fell between them.

“No, but we know how to handle people like you.” Mixie turned quickly as Dukat did the same. This was the first time she got to see one of them up close. They had thick cords that ran from their eyes and along the side of their head before disappearing into the scalp. This particular one had dark matted hair with the same thick grizzly looking hair along his jaw line. He raised up a rifle, a primitive weapon that wasn’t even a laser, and brought the butt of it down and across Dukat’s cheek before he could even get out a protest. “Dukat!” She moved to shake his unconscious form when the man above her made a sort of snorting sneer and got her in the side of the head in much the same fashion he’d gotten Dukat. Mixie blinked and dropped to her side, struggling to stay conscience but felt unconsciousness creep into her senses like black smoke and a snarling pain thunder within her skull. It wasn’t but moments later that a soft sigh escaped her lips and she too drifted into unconsciousness.