Garak looked at the council in front of him. They were all sitting elevated above the Cardassian. He couldn't make their faces out with the shadows folding around them.

That's how it always was. Secrecy was the language of the Obsidian Order.

Garak didn't mind that. He loved secrets. He had been taught to love them since he was a child. They kept him safe.

But there was one face that wasn't shrouded in darkness. The middle chair seemed to be lit with its own light, revealing the face and head of the Obsidian Order: Enabran Tain.

The man was growing old and would soon need a successor. Garak once believed that that successor would be him. Now those prospects seemed less attainable.

"Look, why am I even here?" he asked, attempting to start smoothing things over.

"You have committed crimes against the Obsidian Order and Cardassia Prime," one of the chairs spoke out. "That cannot be excused."

"It was merely a misunderstanding between-"

"You have been found guilty of those crimes, have you not?" another chair asked.

"Yes, but I'm sure we can work something out," Garak protested. "I am one of the order's best spies. It would be a loss to just execute me on the spot."

A laugh suddenly filled the room. A cruel and hollow laugh that had no compassion. Garak could see that it was coming from Tain.

"Execute you, you say?" Tain leaned forward to look down at Garak with an amused smile. "You must be mistaking us for the Cardassian government. Who do you think you're dealing with, boy? At this point execution is too good for you."

A hint of fear flashed across Garak's eyes before he could cover it again. He had to remember to keep his composure.

"Then what do you plan to do with me?" he asked. "If I am nothing but a liability to you."

"Well Garak, exile seems to be appropriate here," Tain said calmly.

"Exile?" Garak stuttered. "What- what do you mean?"

"I mean that you will be exiled from Cardassia - never to return."

Garak could not speak. His hands gripped to steady himself on the object closest to him.

Exile from Cardassia... It was his home. It was the home that he had worked so hard for. Done everything for. He couldn't leave. He just couldn't.

"Could we not circle back to the whole execution thing?" he said desperately. "I love Cardassia-"

"And that is precisely why you should leave it." Tain leaned back in his seat again.

A door to the left suddenly opened and two guards walked in. Each of them grabbed the shocked Garak by an arm. Unable to hide it anymore, fear filled his eyes.

"Wait!" he shouted. "Please Father. Please!"

"He is clearly delusional. Exiling him is the best decision we could have made."

"No!"

Garak wrestled one arm free and used it to push the other guard off of himself. As the first one tried to hit him, the Cardassian spy expertly dodged the blow and went behind him. His arms came around the guard's neck and with one swift movement the vertebrae was snapped and the guard fell lifeless to the ground. Garak turned on the other guard, but found his efforts in vain when five more guards stormed in, all taking hold of him until Garak could not move. He was slowly dragged out of the room.

"No!" he screamed, kicking and trying to break free. "No! Wait!"