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Bashir is surprised when his
"friend" Garak, a Cardassian tailor, is attacked and bitten by a
Cardassian boy who is visiting the station with his Bajoran
father. The boy, Rugal, is an orphan abandoned after the war who
was adopted by a Bajoran family. No sooner does Bashir tell the
crew about the incident than Cardassian leader Gul Dukat
contacts Sisko asking him to investigate. He claims any
information will help in his quest to bring the Cardassian war
orphans back home. Sisko begins by speaking to Proka, the boy's
Bajoran father, who tells him that, while he has been honest
with Rugal about the Cardassians and their atrocities, he loves
Rugal as if he were his own child. This is contradicted by an
alien named Zolan who was with the pair when the incident
occurred. He tells Bashir that Rugal has been mistreated by his
adoptive family and forced to hate himself for his heritage.
Proka vehemently denies this, but Sisko insists that the boy be
taken into station custody.
Later, Bashir discusses the
situation with Garak while tending to his wounded hand. Garak
laughs when he learns that Gul Dukat is claiming to want to save
Cardassian war orphans and implies that Dukat is lying,
indicating that he was in charge of the very operation that left
those orphans behind. Bashir promptly brings this information to
Sisko, who happens to be in the midst of a conversation with
Dukat about the possibility of returning Rugal to Cardassia.
Bashir boldly interrupts and asks Dukat why he left the orphans
on Bajor, and Dukat responds that the civilian leaders ordered
it. Unsure who to believe, Sisko requests a meeting with Garak,
who proceeds to deny ever saying anything about Dukat to Bashir.
Bashir follows Garak out and confronts him about his lies, and
he angrily tells Bashir that the information he shared was
confidential. Meanwhile, Rugal moves in with O'Brien and Keiko,
and soon reveals to O'Brien that he hates the Cardassians and
hates being one. He says that while his parents also despise his
people, they love him and have never mistreated him.
That night, Garak wakes Bashir up and says that they must go to
Bajor immediately. Bashir approaches Sisko for approval to use a
Runabout just as Gul Dukat sends a communication to Sisko
stating that Rugal is the son of Kotan Pa'Dar, one of
Cardassia's most prominent political figures. Pa'Dar is en route
to retrieve the boy and take him home to Cardassia. Still
confused, Sisko lets Bashir travel to Bajor with Garak to
investigate. While visiting an orphanage, Garak accesses and
downloads all of the region's computer files on orphan
resettlement, but is initially unable to find any record of
Rugal.
On route back to Deep Space Nine, Bashir grows suspicious of
Garak and questions him about what is going on. Garak indicates
that Pa'Dar and Dukat are political enemies, and that Dukat's
interest in the boy is suspect. Pa'Dar soon arrives at the
station and goes in search of his son, but first encounters
O'Brien, who warns him of the boy's negative attitude toward his
heritage. Pa'Dar replies that losing his son was a terrible
tragedy and he is determined to bring him home, but when he
meets Rugal, the boy angrily refuses to go. Proka insists on
retaining custody, and Pa'Dar turns to Sisko to mediate the
situation just as Gul Dukat makes his unexpected arrival at the
station.
Dukat, Pa'Dar, Proka, Rugal, and Sisko meet to decide who should
get custody of Rugal. Sisko is suspicious that Dukat has come so
far for a simple custody hearing, especially since he and Pa'Dar
have been political enemies. However, Garak learns more about
Dukat's motives when he realizes that Rugal's name has probably
been deliberately erased from the orphan resettlement files. He
tracks down the Bajoran official who originally wrote the file
and learns that Rugal was brought from Terok Nor, which was the
space station's name under Gul Dukat's command. Apparently,
Dukat deliberately left Rugal behind in hopes of someday using
this to humiliate his adversary, Pa'Dar. When Sisko learns of
this, he decides to let Pa'Dar take Rugal back to Cardassia
despite the obviously distraught boy's unwillingness to go,
realizing that the innocent father has a right to attempt to
raise his child. |
