The Best of Starshit: Garak talks to his father one last time.

Context: Tain was the Head of Cardassia's Gestapo, the Obsidian Order, and Garak was his best agent. He was also his illegitimate son. Cardassians place incredible store upon their family relationships and Tain decided that Garak was an 'unaffordable weakness' he could no longer tolerate. I suppose he could have had Garak killed but instead he alowed him to be exilled on DS9 when the Cardassian occupation of Bajor ended. Ducat, another multifaceted Cardasdian character, was directly responsible for this but- as was often the case in Dukat's life- he was a pawn of a greater power.

Now Tain and Garak find themselves prisoners of the Dominion, a kind of evil version of the Federation, who tricked Tain into allying the Obsidian Order with the Romulan secret service, the Tal Shiar. Both organisations were crippled (although the Tal Shiar would recover) and Tain was taken prisoner.

Bashir's presence is interesting as his place had been taken for several episodes by a Dominion changeling which got drunk with O'brien every night, took part in high level military briefings and even delivered Kira's baby (Kira actress Nana Visitor was actually pregnant with Bashir actor 'Alexander' Siddig El-Faddil's child).

Stay tuned for more Best of Starshit...