Ziyal

Melanie Smith as ZiyalThe story of Tora Ziyal is short and tradgic. The daughter of Bajoran Tora Naprem and Cardassian Gul Dukat she was never really acepted in either world though she hoped to help unite both through her art.

Born on Bajor, when she was 13 years old the occupation ended and Dukat was able to get her and her mother aboard a freighter to freedom on a world where they could live out the rest of their lives in safety. It never got there. Her mother was killed in the crash and Ziyal spent the next six years enslaved by the Breen to mine dilithium.

Gul Dukat with the help of Major Kira Nyres eventually found her and the other survivors but their reunion was bitter sweet. According to Cardassian customs,Ziyal and her Father, Gul Dukat Dukat was expected to execute his bastered daughter but the powerful Cardassian couldn't do it. He instead decided to return to Cardassia with her. This defiance of Cardassian customs did not go unpunished and Dukat nearly lost everything. His wife left him, his mother diowned him and he was demoted to commanding the freighter Groumal. Later, when he took command of a Klingon Bird of Prey to fight his own war, Kira stepped in and took Ziyal with her to Deep Space Nine and safety. There Ziyal met her father's bitter enemy Garak and a breif romance followed much to Dukat's displeasure.

A young officer working under Dukat on the Groumal aligned himself closely with his commander Damar and Ziyaland set things in motion leading up to Ziyal's tragic end. When the Cardassians retook Deep Space 9, Damar was not blind to Ziyal's treachery. He knew that she was involved with a dissident group on the station and openly disrespected her father. When the Federation was about to retake the station, Damar could no longer stand by and watch as Ziyal stubbornly refused to leave for Cardassia with her loving father. He pulled his phaser and coldly shot the traitorous daughter. His action backfired and Dukat collapsed in dispair at her lost and nothing Damar could do would convince him to leave her side. Dukat became a prisoner of the Federation and slipped into insanity while Damar was promoted to Legate and became the leader of Cardassia.

In the last three seasons of Deep Space Nine, Ziyal was played by three actors. First , and the favorite with many fans, was Cyia Batten. Next was Tracy Middendorf and finally, Melanie Smith.

Cyia Batten as Ziyal

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