Very interesting--and man, I LIKED Gul Brelat! :-)  To me, it's very easy to see why his superiors chose him for the task of accompanying Starfleet at the dismantling of the colonies...his personal history makes him much more willing to exercise restraint than I think some guls would have had, and that even had force become necessary, he wouldn't necessarily have been cruel and unusual.  The fact that he was able to feel for the colonists--and yet I think he would also have used force if necessary--makes him just from that tiny snippet come across as a complex character and somebody I'd like to see more from.

Arakaki definitely got a lesson there in not judging people by the scales on their skin, I think...one that I suspect she'll carry with her.

It's also very interesting to see more of T'Ser's take on Sandhurst.  I am very hopeful that will become more substantial respect as she spends more time around him. :-)

As for the Sandhurst-Lar'ragos dynamic...still liking that.  You can definitely see that Sandhurst's resentment hasn't died.  Hard to gauge what Pava thinks, though...if he regrets his actions, or simply regrets being on the outs with Sandhurst.

As for Ariel...God, I hope that comment about getting dirty--and all of the things Pava warned her about...are foreshadowing.  Talk about somebody who has karma headed their way...boy, that makes her and Pava quite the pair.