"Shades of Grey" DS9, Du, Z
Summary: A fight between Dukat and his daughter brings back memories of an old
quarrel between Dukat and his father.
The office door whooshed shut after Ziyal's angry departure. Dukat returned to his seat, moving slowly and tiredly as if he had given up. He sat, for once not feeling any pleasure at being behind the desk he had taken back from Sisko, and stared despondently in the direction in which she had stormed off. Why couldn't she understand? he asked himself. He couldn't pardon Rom and spare his life - the Ferengi was a saboteur, a Federation spy. He wanted to destroy everything Dukat had worked for. Didn't she care about that? He rubbed his forehead distractedly. Ziyal's accusatory words still rang in his head. He hadn't let on to her how much those words had hurt him, but they were like a cancer eating at his heart. Accusing him of not caring about her mother's people! That came from Major Kira, he was sure. Surely Ziyal knew better than that. He'd done everything he could to ease the lives of the Bajorans. Central Command had wanted him to exterminate the entire race, but he wouldn't do it. The Major, however, refused to believe that, and now she was poisoning his daughter's attitude toward him. '"Major Kira was right. You don't care..."' Dukat closed his eyes, trying to shut out Ziyal's voice echoing inside his head. '"I never want to be like you...."' * * * "I never want to be like you!" the young Glinn Dukat yelled at his father. He turned to storm out of the little study. "You don't understand!" Legate Dukat yelled back, half-rising from behind his desk as his son moved to open the door. The younger Dukat froze in shock, then turned to look back. He had never known his father to raise his voice in anger before. The elder Dukat also seemed shocked by this. "Sit," he told his son in a more normal voice, gesturing to the seat in front of his desk. "Let me explain." "Explain what?" the younger Dukat asked coldly, not moving, ignoring the desperate plea in his father's eyes. "Why you refused Central Command's explicit orders? Why you thought that you knew better than the State? No-one is above the State, father. We live to serve it, not to question it. Not to disobey it. You, above all others, should know that. You taught me that!" "You are only looking at it one way." Legate Dukat replied, trying to make his son understand. "You see things so clear-cut. Everything is black or white to you." "What else is there?" the younger Dukat said. He turned and
stalked out the door. His friend Glinn Garak stood waiting, and, from the expression on
his face, Dukat knew he had heard nearly every word of the raging argument. Still, he felt
compelled to ask: Garak nodded. "You are right, of course." he said."But do not worry. The State always wins." Puzzled, Dukat looked at his friend, seeking an explanation for this strange statement, but Garak merely smiled enigmatically. Dukat shrugged slightly, dismissing it from his mind. As the two men began to walk down the corridor to the front door, his father's voice followed them. "Son....There is no such thing as black and white. There are only ever shades of grey." * * * Dukat sighed at the memory. It had been the last time he had seen his father before Garak had betrayed their friendship and brought Legate Dukat to trial for treason - using, as evidence, things Dukat had told him about his father in secret. "You see things so clear-cut, Ziyal," he whispered to the empty air. "But remember - there is no such thing as black and white. There are only ever shades of grey...." ~ END ~ |
