Covenant
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 23 November 1998
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- None given
- DIRECTED BY
- John Kretchmer
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 559
WRITTEN BYWritten by René Echevarria
Kira is abducted to the abandoned station Empok Nor, where she finds a community of Bajoran believers led by a very familiar face.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Kira is transported against her will to Empok Nor, an abandoned Cardassian station, and finds it home to around 50 Bajorans who worship the Pah-wraiths. Their leader is Dukat, who greets her warmly and preaches that the Pah-wraiths are Bajor's true gods. When one of the faithful, Mika, gives birth to a baby who is half Cardassian, Dukat hails the child as a sign from the Pah-wraiths, but Kira suspects he is the father. Dukat then tries to kill Mika and the baby by decompressing an airlock, and when his deception threatens to unravel, he leads the community towards a mass suicide. Kira reveals that the pill Dukat has given himself is a placebo: he means to survive while his followers die. The cultists turn on him and Dukat escapes, but Vedek Fala takes his own life. Kira is left reflecting on faith, and on the troubling sincerity of Dukat's belief.
- 01This is Empok Nor's third appearance, after “Empok Nor” and “The Magnificent Ferengi”.
- 02Dukat had become a peripheral villain after the arc that opened season six, and this episode was meant to bring him back to the centre of the story.
- 03René Echevarria later felt the episode did not do enough to develop the Bajoran characters.