Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night ( episode ) Kira uses the Orb of Time to travel into the past after Dukat claims that her mother was once his lover during the Occupation . Summary . Teaser . In Quark ' s , Jadzia Dax unsuccessfully tries to convince Worf to let her throw a party in their quarters . She almost has him convinced , when he bolts at the last moment . Quark saves them from an awkward silence by informing Worf that the holosuite is ready ; once the Klingon is gone , he asks about the party . Dismayed at Dax ' s answer , Quark goes about his business and delivers a bouquet of Bajoran lilac s to a nearby Kira . This immediately catches Dax ' s interest , so she follows Kira out of the bar and onto the Promenade . Kira has ordered the flowers for herself , despite the fact that she doesn ' t like flowers , to commemorate her late mother ' s 60th birthday . While she never knew her mother , as she was only three years old when she died at the refugee camp , Kira knows Bajoran lilacs were her mother ' s favorites . She tells Dax how proud she has always been of her mother for what she did and who , according to her father , was the bravest woman he ever met . Later that night , Kira receives an encoded transmission from Dukat . In a bout of wanting to come clean with his emotions and himself , he smugly claims to have known Kira ' s mother and that they were lovers until the day she died . Rather than what Kira believes – namely that her mother died at the Singha refugee camp on Bajor – Dukat claims that her father told her a lie because he couldn ' t bear to tell his children that their mother had left him for Dukat . Kira cannot believe her ears and is disgusted at what Dukat tells her , but at the same time she is shaken at the amount of detail Dukat appears to know about her mother and becomes uneasy . Act One . While Kira doesn ' t want to believe Dukat , too many things he claimed to know about her mother were true , and there is now significant doubt in her mind after she does some research of her own . She has a hard time confronting the issue , however , and takes her frustration with the situation out on the people around her , such as Doctor Bashir and Chief O ' Brien who are discussing their next holo adventure while on duty . She eventually decides to do something about her situation so she asks Sisko for permission to use the Orb of Time down on Bajor to find out for herself , because she knows the Vedek Assembly will allow her access to the Orb if the approves it . He is ambivalent about Kira ' s idea due to Starfleet ' s temporal displacement policy , but Kira insists that this matter has nothing to do with the Federation , firmly believing that the Prophet s will protect and guide her to do the right thing ( that is , not disturb the timeline ) . Sisko agrees to let her try . Act Two . Using the Orb , Kira finds herself at the refugee camp where she believes her mother died during the Occupation of Bajor . She finds her father , Taban , and her mother Meru , along with herself and her brothers . A couple of Bajoran men try to force Kira ' s father to give them food , but Kira intervenes by forcing the men to get their own food . They refuse so Kira is forced to fight them to get them to leave . Grateful for Kira ' s efforts , Meru introduces herself , her husband , her sons Reon and Pohl , and her daughter Nerys . The little Nerys wants to know the name of the woman who helped her family , so , pressed for a name , the older Nerys claims her name is Luma Rahl . Shortly thereafter , Basso Tromac , a Bajoran collaborator , and two Cardassian soldiers come and collect various women , including Meru and Kira , as " comfort women " for the Cardassian soldiers . Having received the orders from their Prefect Gul Dukat , they hand pick the women and drag them away from their families . Meru screams out to her husband who is shaking and is in tears , telling him that she loves him , asking him to tell her children to not forget her . Kira , Meru and the others are taken to Terok Nor , where they are given quarters , plenty of food , fine dresses and told to clean up so they can look their best the next day . While Kira tries to console Meru , telling her that everything will be fine and that they would get out of there soon , Meru is distracted by all the wonderful foods she finds on the table in their quarters , such as fresh moba , katterpod bean s , hasperat and more . Meru eagerly begins to eat , not having seen many of these dishes in ages , but Kira is not as enthused and in fact wants no part of it . She wants to try to contact the Bajoran Resistance , which likely has a cell somewhere on the station when Meru , amid her indulgence , begins to cry , as she misses her family and wonders about her children . Sobbing , she says that she wants to believe that the Cardassians were telling the truth when they said that they would take care of her family , but Kira tells her to not count on it . She insists they find a way to get out of the station and then join a resistance cell somewhere . She comforts Meru and as she embraces her face , she notices the scar on her cheek from where she failed to show a Cardassian officer proper respect . Kira continues to embrace her face lovingly , telling her that the scar does not look so bad after all . Meru wonders why Kira keeps helping her ; Kira replies that she doesn ' t have many friends . The next day Basso commends them on their hard work of transforming themselves into beautiful new women . He tells them that their former lives have ended , that their pasts have been erased , and that they have one purpose – and one purpose only : to provide comfort and care to the Cardassian officers stationed on Terok Nor . He warns them that failure to comply would result in their families being sent to labor camp s for the rest of their lives . While he carries on with his threats and the long list of consequences that will follow disobedience , Dukat interrupts him . He welcomes the women and seems quite compassionate . He assures them that the picture they have of Cardassians as a cruel and heartless peoples is wrong , and he hopes to be able to show these women the extent to which Cardassians are capable of great kindness . When Meru dares to ask what will happen to their families , rather than have her removed , he approaches her and kindly tells her that they will be taken care of . Before turning away from her , however , he discovers the scar on her face . He immediately orders Basso to retrieve a dermal regenerator and fixes the scar , calling it an unfortunate reminder of the gulf that exists between their peoples . Much to Kira ' s dismay , Meru seems a bit too taken away by Dukat ' s act of kindness . Act Three . The women are taken to what will later become the wardroom on Deep Space 9 , where various Cardassian officers are seen forcing themselves on the Bajoran women . Meru and Kira stand in a corner with Meru smiling ; still somewhat disturbed at Meru ' s earlier attitude toward Dukat , Kira asks her what she is smiling about . Meru says that she is laughing at the Prophet ' s apparent sense of humor as she always dreamed about having enough food to eat and pretty clothes to wear but now that she has them , she feels horrible . Before she knows , she is dragged away by a sleazy , drunken Cardassian . Meanwhile , a middle - aged Cardassian man has Kira sit on his lap and seems drunkenly amused by her visible hatred toward his kind . When Dukat enters , he finds the younger officer forcing himself on Meru and intervenes , apologizing profusely and having Meru sent back to her quarters . Despite the apparent compassion , the officer with Kira has seen this act before and is able to predict precisely the line Dukat feeds Meru , who – he says – is now " off limits " to the other Cardassians . Meru is gone when Kira returns to their quarters , but Basso and two guards are there retrieving her belongings . Kira demands to see Meru and gets into a fistfight , which she inevitably loses when a Cardassian officer violently strikes her down . They take her to the fenced - off area of Terok Nor ' s Promenade , which is reserved for Bajoran slave laborers . Act Four . Two weeks later , Kira is getting her soup from the server , who has heard word of Meru ' s whereabouts . He follows her to a table and claims Meru has been on vacation with Dukat from which she just returned . To the man , Meru is nothing but a collaborator and Kira has no reason to care for her , but Kira insists otherwise . He tries to get her to join the Resistance , but as she could affect the course of history , she does her best to stay out of such things . Their conversation is interrupted when Basso and a pair of guards arrive to take Kira away . They take Kira through a security scanner and to Dukat ' s and Meru ' s quarters , where Meru is waiting for her . She is seen relaxed and fully rested , wearing a beautiful dress and smiling as Dukat walks into the room with a vase full of the Bajoran lilacs she loves so much . Kira is beside herself with both astonishment and disgust when she sees Meru ' s and Dukat ' s interaction with one another as lovers . It turns out that Meru is the one who sent for Kira , as Kira is her only friend and she is lonely . Dukat senses that Kira doesn ' t like him and assures her that he has been treating Meru with the utmost respect and consideration . He then kisses Meru goodbye and leaves . Meru turns to Kira and tells her that he is in fact very different from what she expected . She insists that Dukat is not a monster , making up excuses and repeating the ones he has given her about the occupation . As disgusted as Kira is when Meru talks about Dukat ' s kindness , Meru insists that things are not so simple and that Kira does not know what she has been through . Kira tries to open Meru ' s eyes , telling her that while she is sitting in the room sipping tea and playing parlor games , Dukat is carrying out the extermination of their people . When Meru keeps defending Dukat and continues regurgitating his lies , Kira becomes furious , telling her that he has taken her away from her children and husband , wondering how she can forget him so quickly . Meru once again insists that Dukat is helping them out with food and medication , but Kira cannot believe what she is hearing as , in her eyes , nothing excuses what Meru is doing . Kira says that she is using the " I am doing it for my children " line as an excuse and that in fact she is there for herself only , as she is a collaborator who enjoys playing house with that murder er . She storms off the quarters , telling Meru that she is going back where she belongs . Back in the ghetto area , Kira talks with the Resistance member again and gets a Bajoran earring with an explosive built into it . It has a three minute fuse and cannot be disarmed once it has been activated . He tells her to not tell Dukat ' s Bajoran mistress about what she is doing , even if it is to save her life , and Kira replies that he need not worry , because as a coward and collaborator , she deserves what she gets . Act Five . Kira goes to the guards and tells them that she has decided which side of the fence she wants to be on . She asks to be taken to Meru so she can apologize to her . When Basso returns her , Kira , as expected , finds Meru with Dukat , sitting at the table , laughing and having a good time . She tells Meru that she has changed her mind and wants to be friends again . Meru accepts her apology and asks Dukat to get her some quarters close - by . Before leaving , Dukat hands a transmission chip to Meru . As he goes to an adjacent room and Meru prepares to watch the message , Kira casually activates and then slips the bomb into a flower vase . While she waits for the right moment to leave the room , she suddenly hears the message which turns out to be from her father , who talks about how well they have been treated since Meru was taken from them , how much the children are thriving now that they are back home again and how much he misses her . He praises her for having saved all of their lives and he cries for the sacrifice she is making . As he talks , Meru begins to cry , touching the screen from which her husband speaks . That is when Kira realizes that maybe her mother is not the heartless traitor and collaborator she thought she was . Kira yells for Dukat and takes him and Meru out into the corridor , where they narrowly escape the detonation of the bomb ( though two of Dukat ' s guards are killed ) . As they are escaping , Dukat calls out for Meru and tries to shield her from the blast , showing that he does have some true affection for her . Suddenly , the orb experience ends and Kira finds herself back in her own time again . She discusses her experiences with Sisko , telling him that until this day , the line between a collaborator and a devoted Bajoran was very clear to her ; she always believed her mother to be a hero who died for the cause while she despised collaborators as the traitors they were . Sisko tells her that Meru did what she had to do to save her family , but Kira insists that it does not make it right . She tells Sisko that her mother died seven years later in a Cardassian hospital , wondering if he knows just how many Bajorans died while her mother was comfortably sipping Kanar with a genocidal murderer . She is heartbroken and disappointed . When Sisko asks her why she saved her mother ' s life , Kira replies that while there is a part of her that wishes she hadn ' t , in the end – no matter what Meru did – she was still her mother . Memorable quotes . " " Let me get this straight . You want to travel back in time to see if Gul Dukat and your mother were lovers ? " " " " I only hope you won ' t condemn us all for the boorish behavior of one man . " " " " Mind telling me what you ' re smiling about ? " " " " The Prophets – I never realized they had such a sense of humor . When I was a child , I dreamed of having food to eat and pretty clothes to wear , and now look at me – I have everything I ever wanted and I feel horrible . " " " " That is pretty funny in a horrible way . " " " " I know what you ' re thinking – you can ' t wait to get us all drunk so you can kill us in our sleep . " " " " Are you sure you ' re not part Betazoid ? " " " " You Bajoran women are so bony . " " " " That ' s because you Cardassians eat all our food . " " " " I could have you executed for that kind of remark . " " " " And that ' s why we hate you all so much . " " " " Meru , I hope the Cardassians aren ' t lying to me , and that they really will send this message to you . I know it ' s only been a few weeks that we ' ve been back home , but you should see the children . It ' s like they ' ve been transformed . Reon and Pohl are laughing and playing together ; they ' ve never been happier , and I swear little Nerys must have gained five pounds . Of course , they keep asking for you . I ' ve told them that you ' re still at the refugee center . I think that ' s best , at least for the time being . I can ' t believe how much I miss you . I think about you all the time . You ' ve saved all our lives . I hope you realize that . Never forget it , not even for an instant . Every day , I pray to the Prophets that you ' ll find some peace in this new life of yours . I believe that even in the worst of times we can still find moments of joy , and kindness . If you can find that kindness , hold onto it . And remember , no matter what happens , I love you Meru . I ' ll always love you . " " " " Tell me something , Nerys . . . if you hate her that much , why did you save her life ? " " < br > " " Believe me , there ' s a part of me that wishes I hadn ' t . But the fact is , no matter what she did . . . she was still my mother . " " < br > Links and references . References . Alamo ; Bajor ; Bajoran s ; Bajoran earring ; Bajoran lilac s ; Bajoran Resistance ; Battle of the Alamo ; Betazoid ; Cardassia ; Cardassian s ; Cardassian Central Command ; coil bracket ; collaborator ; comfort woman ; deka tea ; dermal regenerator ; Emissary of the Prophets ; exercise ; Federation ; hasperat ; holodeck programs ; holosuite ; induction modulator ; kanar ; katterpod bean ; labor camp ; melodrama ; meter ; ; moba fruit ; murder ; nightstand ; Occupation of Bajor ; ore processing center ; Orb of Time ; Prefect ; Promenade ; Prophet s ; Quark ' s ; raktajino ; refugee ; Replimat ; ; scar ; Singha ; sonic shower ; soup ; " spoon head " ; Temple of Iponu ; tour of duty ; ultritium ; veklava