Stardate not given: The choosing of Bajor’s new Kai draws near, and some candidates are not above resorting to hardline tactics to discredit their rivals. When one of the top Bajoran traitors of the Cardassian occupation turns up on the station and is promptly pardoned by Vedek Winn, Kira’s suspicions are aroused, as is her anger when Winn accuses Vedek Bareil, the leading candidate in the race and Kira’s lover, of collaborating with the Cardassians. Kira makes every attempt to clear Bareil’s name as the election looms, but only discovers more evidence pointing him out as a traitor to the Bajora. By the time Kira learns the truth about Bareil’s involvement in a massacre that cost the lives of 43 Bajoran freedom fighters including the late Kai Opaka’s son, Winn has become Bajor’s new Kai.
teleplay by Gary Holland and Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe
story by Gary Holland
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Jay ChattawayCast: Avery Brooks (Commander Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Siddig El Fadil (Dr. Julian Bashir), Terry Farrell (Lt. Jadzia Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Nana Visitor (Major Kira Nerys), Louise Fletcher (Vedek Winn), Philip Anglim (Vedek Bareil), Bert Remsen (Kubus), Camille Saviola (Kai
Opaka), Charles Parks (Eblan), Tom Villard (Prylar Bek)
Notes: Gary Holland was in charge of writing and producing the promos, “next week” trailers and print advertisements for the Star Trek series at the time this episode was written and aired; he named Prylar Bek in honor of the founder of Beck-Ola, a production company to whom Paramount outsourced the actual making of its Star Trek promos and trailers.
LogBook entry by Earl Green