Duet

DS9 Season 1 Episode 18
Air Date: June 13th, 1993

A freighter arrives at DS9 carrying a passenger that has a rare disease that one can only get if they were at the a disaster at a specific mine on Bajor. At first everyone expects it to be a Bajoran but it turns out to be a Cardassian. The first half of the episode is about trying to find the truth about who this Cardassian is. He claims to be a file clerk that worked at the mines but later is discovered to be Gul Darhe'el. But Gul Darhe'el is listed as dead.

We later discover that he wasn't Gul Darhe'el after all but rather that file clerk Marritza. He had altered his appearance and traveled to DS9 because he felt that just being in that labor camp was crime enough and his guilt led him to wanting to be punished. Only Major Kira couldn't justify crucifying a man who was not responsible. In the end as Marritza is being escorted to a airlock to be sent back to Cardassia, he is stabbed in the back by a Bajoran.

This episode deals with the Bajoran labor camps and describes how people were treated. The way Marritza describes it reminds me a lot of the things I read about how the Nazi's treated the Jews. While in past episodes this parallel was hinted at, this episode drives home just how bad the Cardassian occupation of Bajor was.

Quotes

"Marritza says, I don't care about the truth, that all I want is vengeance." - Major Kira
"Are you worried that maybe he's right?" - Lt. Dax
"All I want is to see him punished." - Major Kira
"Even if he is just a file clerk?" - Lt. Dax
"That's just it, I don't want him to be just a file clerk. I want him to be, I don't know, something worse." - Major Kira
"You want him to be guilty." - Lt. Dax
"As far as I'm concerned, if he was at Gallitep, he is guilty. They're all guilty. His punishment will let Bajor feel some, satisfaction." - Major Kira
"It sounds like you're trying too hard to believe what you're saying. You already know, if you punish him without reason, it won't mean anything. And you already know, vengeance isn't enough." - Lt. Dax

"Nothing justifies genocide." - Major Kira
"What you call genocide, I call a day's work." - Marritza

"I am alive. I will always be alive! It's Marritza who's dead! Marritza, who was good for nothing but cowering under his bunk and weeping like a woman. Who every night covered his ears because he couldn't bear to hear the screaming, for mercy, of the Bajorans." - Marritza

"Why? He wasn't Dar'heel! Why?" - Major Kira
"He's a Cardassian! That's reason enough!" - Kainon
"No! It's not." - Major Kira