 Kira meets Tekeny
Ghemor, a known Cardassian dissident, hoping he will lead the
opposition to the Cardassian/Dominion Alliance. Ghemor reveals
he hasn't long to live but he may still be able to help Kira's
cause with a Cardassian ritual in which the dying reveal secrets
to their family to use against their enemies. Since Ghemor
apparently has no living relatives, he asks Kira, who the
Cardassians once kidnapped and surgically altered to look like
his long-lost child, to be his "daughter" one last time. Sisko
points out that this is an incredible opportunity to learn
Cardassian secrets. Kira reluctantly agrees to the task.
Kira sets up at Ghemor's
deathbed, where they begin. Ghemor struggles against agonizing
pain to share his secrets, and Kira struggles with memories of
her own father, Taban, and his death by the Cardassians years
before. Meanwhile, Gul Dukat arrives via Jem'Hadar battleship,
demanding Ghemor's return.
Dukat and his Dominion cohorts board the station and go to
Ghemor, who refuses to leave with them, even when Dukat tempts
him with a reunion with his real missing daughter, Iliana.
Later, Dukat tells Kira that Ghemor is not the man she thinks he
is — he participated in a notorious massacre at a Bajoran
monastery, and proves it by handing her Ghemor's military file.
Returning to Ghemor, Kira angrily confronts him and, despite his
apologies, leaves him to die alone. Odo reminds Kira that Ghemor
was only 19 at the time of the massacre, then suggests Kira
might really be upset about something else. Kira again recalls
when her father was dying, and remembers leaving to fight with
his attackers instead of staying by his side as he wished.
Bashir interrupts her with news that Ghemor will be dead within
the hour.
Kira refuses to go to Ghemor's side, then again thinks back to
the past, and remembers returning from battle to learn that her
father died calling her name. The memory is too much — Kira goes
back to Ghemor's bedside and takes his hand, finally able to
help him die in peace. As a final gesture, she takes Ghemor's
body to Bajor and buries him next to her father.
See Also: Image Captures |
