Ties of Blood and Water

"Ties of Blood and Water"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 19
Directed by	Avery Brooks
Written by	Edmund Newton Robbin L. Slocum Robert Hewitt Wolfe
Production code	517
Original air date	April 14, 1997 (1997-04-14)
Guest stars
Lawrence Pressman as Ghemor Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat Thomas Kopache as Taban William Lucking as Furel Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun
Episode chronology
← Previous "Business as Usual" Next → "Ferengi Love Songs"
List of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes

"Ties of Blood and Water" is an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the nineteenth episode of the fifth season. In an interview with Star Trek Monthly in 1997, actor Lawrence Pressman (who played Ghemor) likened the character to real-world examples of World War II German military officers who were unwilling to fight for Adolf Hitler and actually tried to assassinate him.

This episode marks the second appearance of Weyoun, played by Jeffrey Combs. Although his character was killed in "To The Death", the producers were impressed by Weyoun and established that the Vorta were clones in this episode.

Plot

Two years earlier, Major Kira had been abducted and told she was the long-lost daughter of a Cardassian Legate named Tekeny Ghemor, disguised as a Bajoran for a top-secret mission. Although Kira never truly believed it, Ghemor did, and as he attempted to reestablish a bond between them, Kira developed a sympathy for him. When the truth came out and Ghemor realized she was not really his daughter, he told Kira he cared for her anyway.

Now Ghemor is dying. He wishes to participate in the ritual of shri-tal, a Cardassian tradition in which a dying person reveals their secrets to the rest of the family for use against their enemies. He chooses Kira, since, as he told her before, she is the closest thing he has to family. Captain Sisko encourages her to participate, as this could help the Federation and Bajor.

Kira joins in. The ritual is later interrupted by Gul Dukat who takes a series of steps to attempt to prevent Ghemor from sharing his wealth of knowledge with Kira and the Federation. Finally, employing a 'divide and conquer' tactic, Dukat tells Kira about a massacre of Bajoran monks that Ghemor had participated in. Infuriated, Kira leaves Ghemor.

She soon learns Ghemor would have only been nineteen at the time of the murders. While he was a part of the Cardassian military, and did take part in the raid, he was simply a soldier whose unit had been told that the monks at the Bajoran monastery had been stockpiling weapons that were being used to kill Cardassians. Also, Kira recalls when she could not have been there for her real father, who died while she was fighting the Cardassians. Moved, she stays by Ghemor's side until the end. After Ghemor dies, Kira arranges to have his body buried on Bajor - next to her biological father, Kira Taban.

See also

Second Skin, the Season 3 episode where Kira and Ghemor first met and the bond between them was established.

External links

• Ties of Blood and Water at the Internet Movie Database
• "Ties of Blood and Water" at TV.com
• Ties of Blood and Water at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Ties of Blood and Water at StarTrek.com