Ah, this is such a wonderful read. Tekeny Ghemor really is a model of the "average Cardassian", who by skill and common sense alone has risen to a position of respect in his community, without falling to corruption or forgetting his love for his homeworld.

And I love the use of Natima Lang. One didn't exactly get the best image of her from the one episode. It was fun, but not very flattering in terms of showing off her brains. What a wonderful idea to expand on what little info we get on her in canon.

Excellent writing!

"Unless, of course, there’s been a dispatch error in the hereafter and I’ve been sent to the Black Fleet instead." Oooh. Nothing like a bit of morbid humor.

Awesome way of asking questions simply. I don't think I could have been that inventive caught on an enemy ship.

Terhan. LOVE IT! (Although my keyboard seems unable to make that thingy over the a...)

Mindesa Rhos. Wow, what a patriot! I like her a lot!

"I somehow doubt throwing themselves upon a plasma-charged waste extractor is high on their list of honorable ways to die." ROFL!! This plan is pure genius! How on earth do you come up with stuff like this??

Poisoning the white. Eeek. Horrible way to go, I'm sure.

DAMAR! Oh, you captured his voice beautifully! Slightly pompous, but deadly serious.

The tension on the bridge as Macet announces the intention to follow Damar is thick as custard! Had me glued to the screen, that's for sure. And I say again how much I love the character of Mindesa Rhos.

Lovely too, how Macet doesn't order his men forward, but simply asks them. Now that speaks of a greatness most humanoid (or Cardasnoid, hehe) species can appreciate.

I cannot get enough of your personification of the Trager. It's just so yummy to read! Like:

"The Trager leapt hungrily into warp"
"the Trager wailed at its wounds"

The description of the shuttle going kamikaze is just awesome! I don't think I could ever recount a spacebattle as believable as that. Great job!

And I'm sure you're aware by now just how much I go into nerdgasms over Cardassian physiology...
"this crawling sensation was that of microscales locking down as tight as they could to contain whatever heat they could manage to hold." Oooohhh.

Macet only gets more and more cool as the story weaves on. Phew! Intense!

Onwards!

Frinx! Hehe, it's the new Frakk!

I love how Folani's promise to go along makes the rest of them decide to go along too. Like she speaks for all the hotheads. :oP

The uniforms! Oh, I could go on and on about this. Because in the show we often see them bend and fold. (cause they're made of rubber or somthing, I'm sure.) But somehow we tend to assume that they're metal. I did myself once in a fic of mine. Huge kudos to you for playing with the memory material idea!

Oooh, the showdown between Trughal and Folani. Loving this!

And ouch! Spirodopoulos really shows his balls towards Folani. And she really had it coming. That's gotta sting.

Another lovable character introduced in this chapter: Iymender!

I can quite vividly imagine the tension around that table. Oy. What a collection of people. Phew!

Woah... Daro's got one major set of huevos... But then again, whatever the mystery stuff he is known for is, it must have been bad. Must have required similarly sized nuts.

This is so exciting! I'm hooked!

Next chapter! Now!

Awesome to see how Spirodopoulos' soldier instincts kick in at crunch time. I swear my pulse raced right along with his!

I also kinda expect Spero to shine here.

NOOO! Bird chick getting shot down! *wail*

Woah, Macet really knows how to threaten a true Cardassian. It's actually kinda scary.

And a cliffhanger ending! GAH! More!

Another brilliant chapter!

I LOVE the nod to the Borg-episodes! Awesome!

And the space station with six pylons instead of 4! I love it! Do you have a name for this type? Like the others are 'Nor' types.

Cute little moment with Iymender and the "universal language". Hehehe.

And I'm loving the fact that Berat allows himself to think that maybe the Bajoran terrorists "knew" stuff they were SO not supposed to know, even while his brain is screaming at the impossibility of it. Hehehe.

That inverter thing sounds... downright creepy. Will we hear more of this later on? If not, then I'll have to drill you about it in emails. Cause I neeeeed to hear more of this!

This chapter made me shudder, gasp, cheer, giggle and cry in one big mess. Holy smokes! Intense!

*faints*

Oooh, very useful indeed! Thank you SO much for making guides to your universe. Saves much brainpower.

Author's Response:

Awwww!  Thanks for reading!!! :-)

Hehe, this is where it becomes clear that many of the Cardassians we see in the series are certainly not your personal view of the avarage Cardassian citizen. Both Garak and Dukat make use of the bows to perfection, but at the same time they both portray a remarkable disrespect for personal space. They both stand uncomfortably close to anyone they like and touch even perfect strangers with complete disregard for customs.

Personally I tend to believe that Cardassians may seem cold to outsiders but really are much more relaxed than you'd think and not bound too much by etiquette.

At least in canon, they certainly don't seem to shy away from very public displays of affection for their friends and family. Personally I interpret this as a pride of emotions and a natural willingness to display them even in front of complete strangers. I do, however, agree that first impressions are vital. Any Cardassian obviously taking pains to become familiar with someone from the first moment is no doubt extending a huge compliment.

But then again, this all might get more complicated within their own circles due to complicated rank and caste systems and might simply be slacked off when dealing when off-worlders to make things simpler.

We've got to email more about this!

Author's Response:

I definitely think of Garak and Dukat as being rude for various reasons (generally of the intentionally making people uncomfortable variety).

Wow, great theories here! I've wondered a lot about hybrids myself. Especially Cardassian/Bajoran hybrids.
I have this idea (Not backed by anything scientific) that Cardassians and Bajorans are genetically more similar than Bajorans and Humans. There might be more physical differences, but on a much more detailed scale, I have the idea that Since Bajor and Cardassia are geographically closer, then maybe their genes aren't all that far apart either.

Just theories here. But awesome stuff! Very well backed theories!

Author's Response:

Ahh, interesting...that doesn't fall into the framework of my own theories, but I can see why you might use that concept in your stories. :-)

Holy crap, this is too sad. It totally rips my heart to shreds. I can barely even imagine what kind of strength one must have to survive something like this with even a shred of sanity left! Gosh!

Now I just wanna hug poor Tayben. :o(

This feels like a different Garak from the one we see in the series. I get the feel that this is more the Garak from A Stitch in Time, tempered by the war and changed perhaps for the better. Saddened, but home, at least.

The alternate Dukat and Ziyal are lovely. They show beautifully the potential fulfilled, of the two people who missed their chance in another universe. Had Dukat not been so ambitious, and had Ziyal not been so tormented... it's certainly a believable development for them in another world.

Beautiful writing. :o)