Skrain,

I will be forever grateful to you for all that you did for me and my family. My days with you were not as terrible as I feared they would be. As the Prefect of Bajor, I heard terrible things before I met you. They said that you tortured women, that you sadistically slaughtered men, and that you dined on Bajoran children. Those things weren't true. I hope the better side of you will shine through and that you prove your goodness. I hope that Bajor can be either free or an equal ally of Cardassia. I believe the Prophets have a plan and you must play some part in it. Please continue to look after Taban, Reon, and Nerys. There are only three Kiras in existence. It shouldn't be a hard task. Nerys is the one that most concerns me. Don't let harm come to her in any way. If you do that, I will look forward to seeing you in the Celestial Temple. Farewell.

Your Sweet Mistress Kira Meru

Dukat was deep in mourning weeks later as he read Meru's letter for what must have been the thousandth time. He didn't notice that she had carefully worded the letter so that she didn't declare love but pressed him to continue to be a guardian to her family instead. She subtly asked him to be merciful, to listen to the Prophets, to make peace with Bajor. She made a show of gratitude but did not acknowledge his ownership of her. She mentioned seeing him in the Temple, but she didn't point out the judgment she expected to witness. She was looking forward to reuniting with her Bajoran family and Dukat had never been part of it.

All that Dukat saw was what he wanted to see. His delusion that she had been in love was reconfirmed. He had been furious when he learned that the hospital had failed. He had no clue his wife was involved either. The doctors claimed Meru refused her treatments and died of her cancer. He paid to have her buried with splendor and took some small comfort in the arms of his wife. That was short lived. She took a blood test as soon as she was able and declared herself happily pregnant but no love blossomed.

Part of him was sorely tempted to bring Kira Nerys to the station. It was only a matter of time before she escaped his reach and was recruited into the Resistance. He could save her from the clutches of another Cardassian man but he couldn't protect her from guerilla warfare. She'd certainly get herself killed. Imagine, Meru's sweet little daughter a soldier in a losing war! He had nightmares about it. Meru would appear and scold him for not keeping his promise.

But Dukat recognized his powerful urges by now. Even with Meru he had been less than a gentleman and he could fully admit that. Nerys looked too much like her mother and with her death so fresh, he would use her to replace his former mistress. He would start out trying to be a father to her. She was only eleven and he would place her in her own room with dolls and childish things. A Bajoran girl born out of the ashes of the Occupation would find such toys an insult. She'd rage and hate him. He'd have to explain about his relationship with her mother and Nerys would hate her too!

However, at the first sign of the girl missing her father and brother, he would want to hold her. If her eyes watered with tears, he would wish to comfort her and bring her to cuddle in his bed so she wouldn't be lonely. Women looked so vulnerable and beautiful when they cried. As she blossomed into womanhood, he'd want to touch and taste her in ways no father should ever do. He deserved to burn in every hell ever imagined if he did that and he didn't even believe in such things!

Dukat had made an obsessive habit of watching all the collected footage Meru had kept of her family. He edited a personal copy for himself featuring chiefly the footage and images of Nerys from the time she was three up until the most recent. He didn't intend to stop either despite the fact that Meru was gone. He had noticed her before, but his feelings had amplified. He knew Nerys as though she truly was his already and observing her became his favorite new hobby.

He watched her father bathe her. He saw her play spring ball with her brothers. He observed her eating habits. He admired her at prayer. He noted that she snuggled up to her father and brother especially since the loss of Pohl. She wrapped her arms around her brother's and coiled her calves around one of her father's legs between them. Sometimes she would wake shrieking from a night terror and Dukat wanted to board a shuttle and take her from her home right then and there! He almost made the order.

No, he decided quietly and firmly. It was best to leave Nerys where she was. If he ever came across her, he wanted her to be willing and free to come to his arms on her own. He wanted circumstances to be different with the next Kira if there ever was a next time.

He was brooding and wallowing in misery when a Bajoran woman approached him. She was no comfort woman. She was dressed in a worker's ugly uniform but it couldn't hide her beauty. She had been sent to work on Terok Nor as punishment for a laughably minor crime. She had sparkling blue eyes just like Meru's but fine black hair with a widow's peak more like his Cardassian wife's. She was shy as a mouse but kept her eyes fixed on his.

"Sir," she bowed to him but seemed awkward and not afraid. "I'm lost! Will you please help me? I am all alone on this station. It's my very first day. I am supposed to go to some place called the ore processing station. I can give you my supervisor's name unless you are him and this is the correct place? I'm a hard worker! I promise I won't be trouble!"

"Relax, girl. You have no mate?" he was pleasantly surprised that any Bajoran woman would approach him first.

"No," she blushed at that question and smiled at him with a luminous smile. "This isn't really the place to find romance, is it?"

Dukat was finding himself already hopelessly intrigued because she seemed to be flirting with him, another unbelievable first, "What is your name, lovely girl?"

"My name is Torah Naprem."