ACT ONE

FADE IN:

4 EXT. DEEP SPACE NINE

Focusing on a Cardassian Galor-class ship, which is docked at an upper pylon.

5 INT. DS9 - CAPTAIN’S OFFICE

A young female Cardassian soldier, SLAINE, stands almost painfully at attention, with the door to Ops at her back.

SLAINE
Zivan Slaine, dalin first class of
the Cardassian Guard, reporting
for duty, sir.

Captain RO smiles at the young woman’s eagerness to please.

RO
Welcome aboard, dalin Slaine. You
can relax now, you’ve made a good
enough first impression.

Slaine isn’t sure if that’s a joke or not...

SLAINE
Aye, sir. Thank you... sir?

Ro comes around the desk, removing the separation between them, and gestures towards the office lounge area.

RO
I mean it, dalin. You’ll find I
run a comparatively easy-going
station. Come and sit with me.

A little confused by this unfamiliar command style, Slaine does as she is told and perches opposite Ro’s own soft seat. The Cardassian woman is young and nervous, only in her 20s and desperate to get it right. Ro is sympathetic.

RO
First major assignment?

SLAINE
Yes, sir. First time leaving the
Cardassian Union at all, in fact.

RO
And it’s to a Bajoran station.
Bold move.

SLAINE
(gulp)
Yes, sir. But I consider it a great
honour to be selected for this
important position. Sir.

It’s clear that Slaine is aware of the awkwardness of the situation - a Cardassian officer being assigned back to the former seat of Cardassian power over the Bajorans. But Ro has no plans to make it any worse on her.

Then the office door opens and CENN strides in, casually launching straight into it...

CENN
Captain, Vedek Kira and -

Slaine shoots to her feet at the Bajoran Militia officer’s entrance, back at attention again. He stops in surprise...

CENN
Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise -

RO
That’s alright, Major. This is
dalin Slaine, our new Cardassian
exchange officer and soon-to-be
strategic operations officer. Dalin
Slaine - Major Cenn, Bajoran
liaison and my first officer.

Cenn steps forward, smothering his own instinctive reaction to a Cardassian soldier in uniform. It’s awkward all round, but they are all trying to make the best of it.

CENN
Good to meet you, dalin Slaine.

SLAINE
Major.

RO
You were saying, Desca?

CENN
Kira and her... “guest”... wanted
to pay respects to the station’s
commander before leaving.

Ro sighs and gets to her feet. Not looking forward to it.

RO
Alright, I’ll handle it. Thanks,
Major. You might as well start
showing the dalin what to do.

Ro heads out into Ops. A pause as Cenn and Slaine look to each other - another moment of awkwardness for them both - then they follow her out and get to work.

6 INT. DS9 - UPPER PYLON DOCKING AREA

Cardassian soldiers carry supplies into the airlock, back onto their ship. KIRA is there in her travelling clothes, smiling wide as RO strides up.

KIRA
Hi, Laren.

RO
Good to see you, Nerys. Where’s
your friend?

YEVIR (o.s.)
Never far, Captain. Never far.

Kira and Ro both turn to see not Raiq but YEVIR, the other Bajoran vedek, squeezing down the short airlock past the Cardassian soldiers towards them both. He is also wearing simple travelling clothes, not his religious regalia.

After a nod of acknowledgment to Ro, he turns to Kira.

YEVIR
Nerys, I’ve spoken to the glinn.
All our belongings are safely
stowed and the ship is ready
to leave as soon as we are.

KIRA
Thanks, Linjarin. I’ll see you
on board.

Subtext: leave me alone with Ro. Yevir nods politely to Ro again then heads back inside. Once he’s out of earshot...

RO
I can’t believe you’re spending
months on Cardassia with him.
Wasn’t so long ago you despised
each other. Now you’re calling
each other by your given names?

KIRA
(shrug)
We’ve all changed, Laren. Even
Yevir. Besides, working with the
Oralian Way was what brought us
closer to the Cardassians before.

RO
Before the plague hit, they shut
their borders, and everyone had
to run for their lives, you mean.

KIRA
Well, yeah. And now, they’re open
again. It’ll be slow work, I don’t
doubt that for a second. But faith
is what got us there last time. It
will be our way in this time too.

RO
Better you than me.

KIRA
(slightly aback)
Didn’t you just get a Cardassian
exchange officer yourself?

RO
Yeah, but she’s on my territory.
You’ll be on theirs.

KIRA
(chuckle)
You sound just like Raiq.

By now, the Cardassian soldiers have finished carrying their supplies. With a last friendly half-hug, Kira heads after the last of them, onto the Cardassian ship. Ro steps back, lets the airlock roll closed, and watches her go.

7 INT. DS9 - OPS

At the central Ops table, CENN is showing SLAINE what to do, while the business of Ops goes on around them. A slight tension remains between them, eggshells, but nothing overt.

CENN
So on a large scale, the strategic
operations officer’s job is to know
exactly where every ship in the
entire Bajoran sector is, and
what they’re doing, at all times.

SLAINE
(confident)
Understood.

CENN
On a smaller scale, your job is to
run the docking boards, basically.
Allocating resources, assigning
berths, getting clearance.

SLAINE
(less so)
Understood.

CENN
Don’t worry. I know it can seem
overwhelming at first, but it’ll be
second nature in a few weeks.

VOICE (comm)
Ghedri to DS-Nine Control. We are
ready to depart.

CENN
Acknowledged, Ghedri. Stand by.

Cenn smiles to Slaine - now watch. He works a control...

CENN
First thing is to check the sensor
display, make sure we don’t have
any other ships in the vicinity.
This screen here shows you -

SLAINE
(gently)
Major, I am familiar with reading
Cardassian sensor readouts...

Cenn pauses - naturally she is, she’s a Cardassian.

CENN
Of course, dalin, my apologies.
Most of our new officers come
here from the Federation, so...

SLAINE
I understand. So we check the
sensors, and if all is clear...?

CENN
Transmit their flight plan out of
local space...

He points to one panel - Slaine works it.

CENN
Wait for them to acknowledge...

He points to another display - it soon BEEPS affirmatively.

CENN
Then release the docking clamps,
and they’re away. But keep track
until they’re out of range.

SLAINE
To ensure they behave themselves?

CENN
Anything can happen. You have to
stay alert. On screen...

Slaine works another control, they look to the SCREEN...

MAIN VIEWSCREEN

shows the Cardassian warship Ghedri pulling away from the station and out into space.

BACK TO SCENE

Cenn and Slaine both watch it go...

CENN
I usually like to wish them “Walk
with the Prophets”. But I imagine
you’ll find your own phrase.

Keeping her eyes on the screen, Slaine almost whispers...

SLAINE
Good luck.

Cenn looks at her, curious what that means...

8 MORAD

An ordinary Cardassian male, in his 40s, stands with a blank expression, staring into the middle distance. This is MORAD, a freighter captain who is just waiting his turn.

FOREMAN (o.s.)
Morad? Is there a Morad here?

Morad looks up at the call, and sees...

9 INT. FREIGHTER HUB - COUNTER

A FOREMAN with a padd looking around the room. A Cardassian male, as ordinary as the first, just a guy doing his job.

Morad shuffles forwards to where the Foreman stands at a counter, in this large warehouse filled with stacks and rows of crates waiting to be picked up. Other Cardassian civilian EXTRAS use anti-gravs to heft the crates around.

MORAD
Yeah, that’s me.

FOREMAN
Got ID?

With a sigh, Morad digs out his ID pass, hands it over...

INSERT - ID PASS

Held in the Foreman’s hand - a headshot with his full name DENISON MORAD, and various security licenses.

BACK TO SCENE

The Foreman hands it back, makes a note on his padd, and beckons Morad to follow him into the warehouse depths.

10 INT. FREIGHTER HUB - WAREHOUSE ROWS

The Foreman points out some boxes indistinguishable from the rest, and hands over his padd to Morad.

FOREMAN
Everything in these three bays is
yours. Just sign there.

MORAD
What’s in them?

FOREMAN
No idea.

MORAD
Are you sure?

FOREMAN
Look, all I know is it’s got to be
delivered to the Science Academy.
That’s all you need to know too.

MORAD
I’m not taking any cargo on board
my ship if I don’t know what it
is. That’s why I’ve got all those
security verifications you just
checked. You must have a manifest
for all this stuff or you wouldn’t
have taken custody of it either.
I’m just asking to see it so I
know what I’m getting into.

The Foreman considers his options - in fact he does know what’s in the boxes, but he was hoping to get away with pretending he didn’t. Grudgingly he snatches the padd off Morad, unlocks a new page and hands it back. Morad reads...

MORAD
Technical components. That wasn’t
so hard, was it? Delivering to the
new Academy annex in Lakat.
(a thought)
Why is the Science Academy using
a basic outfit like this place to
ship its components? No offence.

The Foreman grunts - offence taken. Morad continues...

MORAD
Unless they’re specifically trying
not to be noticed for some reason.

FOREMAN
(getting nervous)
Just take it and go, will you?

The answer comes to Morad - and he’s not happy about it.

MORAD
It’s for slipstream, isn’t it? The
damn Science Academy are working
on that fancy propulsion tech the
Federation gave us to get us to
join their damn alliance, aren’t
they? But they don’t want anyone
to know it, so they’re using you.

The Foreman steps close, an angry whisper...

FOREMAN
Keep your damn voice down. We’re
not paid to worry about what’s in
those boxes. I’m paid to package
them up, and you’re paid to get
them where they need to be. That’s
all. So stop talking, pick up your
merchandise, and get out. Got it?

The Foreman snatches back his padd, and stalks off back to his counter. He doesn’t need any trouble today.

Left alone, Morad takes one of the anti-gravs and starts loading the boxes onto it with an annoyed harrumph. He has no choice, it’s his job, and he needs to get paid.

But as he guides the fully loaded anti-grav out of the warehouse back towards his ship, the thunderclouds in his eyes are a long way from the blank expression of earlier...

FADE OUT

END OF ACT ONE