One Shot: A Bajoran!?
Gul Revok's trial is described in "Duty to Cardassia Supersedes All - 13 - Resolution. Part of Kira's statement is excerpted here.
A comment in Outta The Wormhole on Discord gave me this idea.
Screens in public places or halls where the people could watch speeches, newscasts or trials were an element the provisional government had recreated as soon as possible; this gave the population a sense of normalcy, used to these transmissions as they had been from childhood on up; besides, the provisional government's goal was to win the population's trust; they knew that offering information was an invaluable currency.
A number of Cardassians from a nearby community had met by chance and were standing together, exchanging news about the construction of further living quarters in their area.
All of a sudden, one of the women, Shirina, started, turned to look at something, wide-eyed with surprise, then, indicating what had aroused her attention, she whispered, "Who are those people?"
Her neighbor, Davro, surreptitiously glanced over before answering, "They seem to be inspecting the progress made in reconstruction and talking about it, to judge by their gestures." He looked over again. "They aren't officials, though."
"Say, isn't that Organizer Garak?" Sariki asked, astonished.
Karuna looked over at the Cardassian Sariki had indicated and nodded, "Could be; but I don't know that off... " she gasped in surprise when the three, who had been standing close together, moved to stand side by side, looking down the street at a building under construction. "That isn't possible - look! A Bajoran woman!"
Berut, her husband, said, "What's one of those doing here? She's not a captive, that's for sure."
Nedin barely kept from laughing. "Come on, Berut! We and captives, especially Bajorans. You know what would happen."
"The prison camp on Cardassia IV - that news spread throughout the Federation at warp speed."
They now watched the people unobtrusively, saw Garak point out details to his companions who were interested in and approved of developments. The Cardassian officer quickly touched the Bajoran's arm, pointed at a building.
"Seem to know one another quite well..."
"Wait a moment," said Karuna, "I've seen that Bajoran in recent broadcasts. Now I remember! She's from Terok Nor... Kira?"
"THE Kira who fought at Damar's side?" was Davro's astonished query.
"That very one."
"And that officer?" asked Bardil.
"Seen her once or twice in transmissions; as far as I know she cooperates with Organizers Garak and Lang," replied Nedar.
Nerin sneered, "A Bajoran on Cardassia, wearing Militia uniform... Trying to rub in the Fed's victory. Can't resist, can she?"
"I can't read Bajorans' expressions, but if she was Cardassian, I'd say she is pleased about what she is seeing, not gloating about what has happened," Shirina said in a low voice.
A child, Arissa, curiously watched the group. When Kira glanced their way, she exclaimed, "She's looking over at us!" and impulsively waved at her.
Kira's response was immediate and as impulsive as the child's gesture had been: A friendly wave back and a smile that had the Bajoran's dark eyes sparkle.
The Cardassians, surprised at the spontaneity of her gesture, exchanged glances, but said nothing, only silently watched the three walk on, looking around, speaking to one another.
After a few minutes, Rassem addressed his companions, "We have to get to the depot to register for our weekly rations. It will open soon and we still have a way to go."
The next day, they entered a large hall with a number of acquaintances to watch the transmission of Gul Revok's trial on a wall-length screen. As yet, the screen was dark and would not be activated until the trial officially began. A few members of the audience exchanged puzzled glances, thinking the system was malfunctioning until they realized that the days of propaganda loops were past.
"We saw Organizer Garak and Kira just yesterday," Borada said to Yevar, one of her colleagues, who sat next to her.
"The very idea: a Bajoran testifying in a Cardassian court against a Cardassian citizen!" was his reply which was uttered with a strongly sibilant undertone.
"I've heard she fought at Damar's side to free Cardassia." Borada replied.
"Certainly she did, and got Damar killed, another dead Cardie to her name."
"She stuck by the few resistance fighters who had survived to the very end. There's a rumor that she was sent here by her commander to help Damar organize his resistance group," was Syneg's retort. "If it had not been for Revok..."
"Don't blame him! Everyone knows she was with the Shakaar. I'd like to see her and the rest of those terrorists stand trial for assassinating Cardassian citizens," said Rassem, joining the discussion. "Her agreeing to assist Damar was nothing but a front to disguise her real plans: the destruction of the Cardassian Liberation Front."
"I don't think so. If she planned anything at all, it was to keep the Dominion from going after Bajor and other non-aligned worlds next," stated Chadas.
"That shrinecrawler was a terrorist!" hissed Dena. "Her kind doesn't suddenly help those they wanted to destroy only a few years ago. I tell you, anyone who trusts a Bajoran is either a traitor or a fool."
"I say Kira the Terrorist is to be respected for taking the risk of coming here to help us shake off the Dominion," Karuna replied.
"Most likely she knew what would happen after the uprising and wanted to see it for herself." Sarkan made a gesture encompassing the ruins that had not yet been removed. "That Bajoran missed the best part: watching us dig our way out."
"Wouldn't have ended like this if Revok had not turned traitor," was Syneg's reaction.
"How can you be so sure? We've never had offworld forces invade our worlds except for the Lissepians, and that was two centuries ago. We got rid of that lot quickly enough and could have done the same with the Dominion."
"You don't believe that yourself..." began Syneg.
Emet interrupted him, saying "It was insane to accept a Bajoran terrorist's assistance in the first place. If our own people had kept full control of the Resistance, we would have freed ourselves of the Dominion and not gone through The Fire."
"You don't believe your own words," said Kernan. "With Jem'Hadar all over the place? One wrong move? More than two people standing together? Arrest and disappearance."
As soon as the screen cleared, the audience fell silent.
The courtroom itself was in accordance with Cardassian custom, but the Archon was wearing civilian clothing, not the elaborate robes and hairstyle of her station. To the audience's surprise, three Starfleet officers, possibly observers, were sitting next to Conservator Kovat.
The audience's reaction to their presence was resentment and anger. Someone yelled, "This is an outrage! We don't need the Federation's agents sticking their noses into our justice system!"
"We are receiving assistance from the Federation, and this is the price to be paid! Loss of Cardassian independence!"
The guards intervened, issued a warning...
Once again silent, those present listened as Chief Archon Jenol gave a brief report on the past war and its outcome for Cardassia before describing Revok's crime.
Kira was the first witness to testify. She gave a brief description of the events in the cave into which they had been beamed, concluding her eye-witness report with the words: "Madam Archon, my people had no other choice but to live with Cardassians for nearly six decades, live with the violence, the torture, the massacres, the labor camps; we hated and still hate them for what they did to us, to our world..."
Her openly stating that she hated Cardassians and always would aroused angry muttering and shouts among the viewers until one of the guards called for silence.
"... but Damar's patriotism and his recognition towards the end... I am not insulting him or questioning his patriotism by what I am about to say: he recognized the evil of the past after experiencing the same pain and loss his people had inflicted on so many of us. This gave him the determination to keep on fighting against impossible odds. For that I respect him. Damar had the strength of will and sense of honor that, had he survived, would have made him a great leader of the new Cardassia."*
Taken by surprise at the Bajoran's words, the audience now stared at the screen in silence.
Her account of events was corroborated by Garak; Melset, when addressed, only rectified two statements Revok had made. All of the evidence confirmed Gul Revok's guilt; when ordered to speak, he did not deny what he had done, maintained that he had served Cardassia throughout his adult life and believed Legate Dukat had had only the Union's best interests in mind when he established the Alliance with the Dominion. At the end of his speech he accepted his probable sentence in the knowledge he had acted as a true Cardassian, in accordance with the oath of service he had once given.
But when the Archon sentenced him to exile instead of execution as everyone had expected, there was a wave of suppressed comments from the audience at this turn of events. Even after the Archon had explained the reason for her decision, not all members of the audience were willing to accept it. Only his supporters approved of the sentence.
A male yelled, "This is a sign of Federation meddling even in Cardassian jurisprudence! Those observers were only there to make sure the Archon did what they wanted!"
He was immediately silenced by his neighbors for fear of arrest.
The audience waited for an explanation of this lenient sentence, a sentence that would have been unheard of before The Fire, but the screen went dark, the sign for the audience to leave the hall; everyone headed for home or to open areas where they could be sure their discussions would not be recorded. Old habits died hard.
"This has to be a first, a Bajoran witness testifying before a Cardassian court!"
"She must have been either a collaborator or an informant; there were plenty of those during the Occupation. Their people didn't manage to liquidate them all."
"This one a collaborator? Weren't you listening when the Archon said she was in the Shakaar before she landed her position on Terok Nor? Everyone knows about her."
"That says it all. She's in a position to have any Cardassian who offends her arrested and tried."
"She told the truth. Garak corroborated her words, so did that officer."
"Had the guts to come here."
"She was expressly invited, as far as I have heard." His intonation bitter, Davro added, "Those Federaji would not have accepted only one witness as we do. He would have been freed if she had not come to testify."
"I wouldn't wonder if those three were shapeshifters, and not who we are supposed to believe they are."
"For the Union's sake, that is outrageous, even for you, unless you are joking," hissed Yevar.
"You trust that Bajoran, that is just as outrageous," Davro countered.
"My cousin's brother who works at the spaceport said she arrived with that Cardassian officer and both were picked up by Organizer Garak. He said that she was speaking to Kira, treated her with respect."
"Under guard, most likely," Arelya said. "Federation-style."
"Didn't look like that. He watched them when they went to a skimmer; the conversation appeared friendly."
"Who is that Gul anyway?"
"Gul Melset, an Organizer, don't know where she is stationed though..."
"Who cares about that? Anyway, Arissa..." she gestured at the child who was standing patiently next to her, listening carefully... "waved at her. Kira smiled and waved back. I could tell her friendly reaction was not a show."
"I'd say she makes a difference between the Occupiers and those who weren't on Bajor."
"Perhaps."
"Still, I don't like a sentence based on such a witness. Didn't we have any of our own?"
"Damar, Seskal and his crew, Goris... all were killed. Only she and Garak survived to bear witness." Angrily, Ardit hissed, "One witness was not enough, for obvious reasons. Those Federaje, meddling in our affairs!"
"That is the reason why the sentence was not execution but exile."
"The Archon said that we cannot lose even more people, not after the devastation of The Fire, and that Revok made his decision in accordance with what his commanding officer would have demanded."
"An argument that is spurious, to say the least," replied Kernan, "but it is true that he is of more use alive."
"And what about Melset? What was she doing here?"
"The Archon said that, as Damar's sister, she had the privilege of attending the trial and standing guard during proceedings." Emat added, "I have found out that she works on Terok Nor. For a Federation relief organization."
A derisive hiss was Ardit's reaction. "Most likely re-educated by those with whom she works."
"And that Bajoran, Kira? What will happen to her?"
"She's free to return to Terok Nor."
"What? After all of the attacks and assassinations she and the Shakaar committed, the deaths of Cardassian military members and civilians?"
"That is what you and I would consider true justice. After all, 'All crimes are solved, all perpetrators punished', but it would seem that, because she rendered us the service of cooperating with Damar and now, of attending this trial as a witness, she is safe. Revok would have been released, even compensated for his arrest, if she had not taken the risk of coming here."
"And she helped Damar free Cardassia."
"The price of her help? Lakarian City destroyed, its inhabitants killed. All of his rebel bases were destroyed. No one escaped. A lot of help indeed." Nedar added, "She realized her goal of killing more spoonheads," he snarled. "She should be made to pay for this.
"It was our people who sabotaged the power grid, Cardassians, to weaken the Dominion's hold. She had nothing to do with it. The Dominion saw it as the act of rebellion it was and decided to teach us a lesson."
"Remember: She didn't try to escape off world when the resistance was destroyed. She stuck with Garak and Damar and Damar's remaining men, saw it through to the end." Aret uttered a low hiss of approval, "Agree with me or not, but she helped us win what her own people had won, and with the same methods."
"By the way, Nedar, I seem to remember you approved of Gul Revok's supporting the Dominion," commented Bardil to his neighbor who doubted the justice of the sentence and considered Revok a true hero of Cardassia. "Heard he holed up in some province or another to save his skin, even adopted a false name."
"What else could he have done?" Diyar said before Nedar could react. "Damar brought us this." His gesture implied the scenes outside, the situation after the Fire.
Temek said, "I am sure the this trial will embolden the Bajoran Militia to present lists of alleged war criminals to the Council of Organizers."
"It's been nearly six years since the Fire! They'll hardly present them now, after all this time."
"Everyone knows the Bajorans created depots for goods as soon as the war ended," said Sarkan. "They were the first to offer assistance."
"That's what you think: only a front to hide they were and are gloating over what has happened," Nedar said with a bitter laugh.
"I don't trust them," Yevar whispered to his neighbor. "I've heard too many accounts that describe them as a violent, murderous, treacherous lot, superstitious and primitive, hiding in their temples, rejecting progress."
Chadas overheard him. "I've met a few who are working in our clinics, or what about those who helped set up shelters? Some even gave their own rations to families before deliveries of aid were stepped up."
"They have so much that they can afford to make a show of kindness to win the trust of the desperate - and then strike."
"No, I asked one of them directly shortly after The Fire why they were doing this, and she said that it was a basic tenet of their belief system to help those in need, be they enemies or friends."
"Makes them useful..."
"Look, I despise them, but respect Kira for coming to testify, and her people for offering help."
"Most likely negotiated a deal: Don't prosecute me for terrorism and I'll testify against Revok."
A few of the others nodded; in low-profile cases this was done on Cardassia to ensure a perpetrator was found to prove that all crimes were solved, all the guilty arrested and punished.
"Not this one, as far as I have heard."
"Not one innocent individual among that lot."
An angry hiss, "Whom do you mean? Them or us?"
"Them, what do you think?"
"When I was working in Gul Ertan's team, three Bajorans briefly joined us, shared their methods with us. At one point, two of them rigged an explosive to destroy a wall that would have taken a week to break down. That says what they were." Emat then said pensively, "A family had a child who was seriously ill; one of the Bajorans knew how to treat it, pulled it through then rejoiced with the parents as if it was one of his own kind."
Erdon began speaking very quietly, "I wonder whether..." then continued in a rush of words, "whether the reports on the situation on Bajor before Withdrawal were true..."
"What do you mean?"
"You heard what Kira said about our forces; I was assigned the work of cleaning the soldiers' quarters and overheard some comments made by those who had returned from Bajor when they thought no one was listening to them... I'll just say they contradicted the official reports transmitted for public viewing."
His immediate neighbor, Temek, quickly glanced around, "Don't ever mention this to anyone! Don't even think about it! Most likely there's still some of that Order vermin sneaking around, listening."
"Then I'll just say that I know what I've heard and wonder whether we were lied to throughout the Occupation."
"Best get going. Curfew is in two hours. It's no use thinking about these things. The higher- ups decide, we only see and feel the results of their decisions," muttered Ardit. "That has not changed."