#Iliana Ghemor

[cuterefaction]

Trektober Day 7 - Academy Era. Not everything needs to be Starfleet - sometimes, it can be murder lizards! I know they wouldn't've trained at the same time, but I like the idea of all these disasters being stuck in a teen movie together with an increasingly miserable Tain as principal.

[cocodavie]

(Dukat and Kira swap species)

ref

[searchingforserendipity25]

naturally kira nerys being kira nerys is the most fascinating and fulfilling possibility for 'second skin', and i love her so much.

however.

iliana ghemor sleeper-agent kira nerys slowly starting to remember snippets of a life as an obsidian order agent and legate's daughter in cardassia prime, and reintegrating that information into her current inner life?

there is something very interesting about that possibility. for what it means about choice and self-determination, about bajoran spirituality and faith - taking what the prophet's show you, and following their path in courage.

a great deal of possibilities, also. how much are the memories iliana's, how much from the surgeries and brainwashing etrek put her through?

whether she remembers it all, or only instants. perhaps if it is only that she feels the cold more keenly. her hands remember how to sculp bone, now, as jadzia remembered how to play after making peace with her murderous past life.

does it make a difference? it is up for her to decide what does make a difference. regardless of what she decides to believe, the strain is the same, a continuation of what every bajoran has known for fifty years - the oppressed being impressed upon by the memory of the oppressor.

kira nerys had a maybe-real mother who painted idols for the temple - she sculpts them, now, and the hopes and wishes and intent she puts into the work are her own, between her and the prophets.

iliana ghemor was loved and artistic and brilliant, and she is dead, she has been dead for ten years.

the world is better for it.

kira nerys? major kira as liberation to live for, and friends aplenty, and a duty roster to re-organize.

[transemh]

have you ever felt like someone you're not?

[the-last-dillpickle]

hmm Kira/Iliana...? 🤔

[ofhouseadama]

sometimes i like to toy with the concept of garak's biological mother being the lost scion of a prestigious political family (ie an iliana ghemor type, just fifty years in the past) and just rotate that in my mind along with the idea of post-war cardassia being out of legitimate living heirs for these late, great houses and deciding to mandate (or heavily suggest) that the population all contribute to one big open cardassianancestryDNA. garak is huffy but does it so he can hit back to his opponents in the press that he is a bastard AND an orphan, thank you very much, but then his mom comes up as essentially the grand duchess anastasia who disappeared mysteriously on cardassia iii six months before he was theoretically born

[boreal-sea]

Speaking of DS9 "Second Skin", Entek actually gives Kira the clue she needs to solve the puzzle. He'd probably have been able to fully confuse her and have her truly doubt her identity, but he asked her:

"If you're not my operative, if you're not who I say you are, why would I be playing this game?"

He thought this would serve to further confuse her, but it ended up being the key Kira needed. It's what Kira remembers later, talking to Tekeny. Why would the Obsidian Order be playing this game? Entek knows she's not actually Iliana, so what is is real motivation?

Trapping Tekeny Ghemor, Iliana's father.

Now, I'll wager that convincing Kira she actually was Cardassian and getting all her secrets was probably on the table as a possibility, but taking down Tekeny was the primary goal. It's interesting to postulate what would have happened if Tekeny hadn't decided to try to smuggle Kira off Cardassia, and had just waited. Kira was on her way to breaking at that point. Would the Obsidian Order have given up on their attempt to reveal Tekeny as a resistance operative, or would they have just shifted to using Kira in a different way to reveal his involvement?

[quietwings-fics]

Who was she?

Rating: General Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Ship: Gen Additional Tags: POV Kira Nerys, Episode: s03e05 Second Skin, Angst, Coda, Identity Issues Wordcount: 243 Summary:

They showed Kira a body to prove that she replaced the real Kira, but that, like everything else, turned out not to be true. But then, where did they get that body?

It’s only much later, lying in her quarters, that the thought crosses Kira’s mind. She plays absently with the bracelet Ghemor gave her, touching each of the metal segments in turn. They are pieces of a family she has been drawn in the middle of by chance: a dead mother, a hopeful father, a lost daughter.

Did Ghemor see my body? she thinks, and she corrects herself harshly a second later, the body, a body, not hers. Kira Nerys is alive. That was only a trick to break her, exhibit S 1983. As she’d assumed, a clone, a hologram, a lie.

But then, the video was not. Iliana was a real woman, whose eyes happened to match the shape of Kira’s, whose mouth could make the same smile.

They put her through surgery to make her look like a Bajoran. She could be anyone.

But they gave Kira the same surgery in reverse, and through the Cardassian scales and ridges, she had still looked like herself. That was the whole point. If she hadn’t, Ghemor never would have seen his daughter in her face.

And now she lies there, clutching the bracelet close, and trying to remember. Did she touch the body? Did she feel the cold that haunted its skin? Did she make sure it was real?

Whose body was that? Whose face was that?

She has the sinking feeling that no matter how much Ghemor searches, he’ll never find his daughter.

(Enjoyed it? Any interaction is welcomed. You can even support me on Ko-Fi <3)

[jimintomystery]

DS9: "Second Skin"

Major Kira is abducted by the Obsidian Order and surgically altered to look like Iliana Ghemor, a Cardassian sleeper agent who allegedly replaced the real Kira ten years ago.

The writer of this story, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, originally wanted it to be about Chief O'Brien, which accounts for all the "O'Brien Must Suffer" DNA in the plot. Either way, he wanted to leave open the idea that the sleeper agent stuff was true, with no way to prove the main character wasn't originally Cardassian. It's a provocative idea, but incompatible with the finished episode. From the start, it's awfully suspicious when Kira has the first seed of doubt planted in her mind, and the Order already has an operative lurking on the station. (Well, one more operative than usual. You know what I mean.)

Since the 1960s, Star Trek has been having fun with the idea that future doctors can disguise humans as an alien as easily as 20th century make-up artists. Well, it's one thing to stick pointy ears on Captain Kirk and call him a Romulan. It's quite another to saw off a Cardassian's neck ridges and that forehead thing, and somehow make these massive anatomical changes undetectable by the enemy for ten years. It'd be tolerable if they just did it once, for a story like this where it's worth it. But they just keep coming back to it, until it's as big a cliche as the holodeck.

Hell, let's talk about the holodeck. One of the big moments in this episode is when Entek has the "real" Kira's corpse beamed into the room to "prove" she's been dead for years. Unfortunately that gets blunted right away when Kira decides "For all I know, this whole place is a holosuite." Entek's whole point is that nothing he's claiming is impossible for the Obsidian Order, but that means nothing when literally anyone in Quark's bar could fake all this in a simulation.

So it's a good thing the story looks past that to Kira's real dilemma, because whether this is real or not she's still trapped by people trying to gaslight her. The triumph of this episode is pivoting from "is Kira actually Iliana Ghemor?" to "this is all a trick to expose Iliana's father as a dissident." Once we go there, the situation feels more tangible and relevant--the sci-fi spy stuff becomes a vehicle for genuine human drama, instead of existing for its own sake.

I really, really like how Kira has A Moment with Legate Ghemor at the end, and he offers some fatherly advice which turns out to be "Garak is trash, 0/10 would not recommend."

[dykebeckett]

Thinking once again about my very favorite zero screentime star trek character iliana ghemor

[walkingstackofbooks]

DS9 3x05 Second Skin thoughts (I'm re-watching, so there may be future spoilers)

"If you must know I'm waiting for Major Kira." For a date, right???

"I'm kinda looking forward to it." <3 Even though you hate holosuites, because you're spending time with Jadzia, right? :P

OH IT'S THIS EPISODE.... Time to traumatise Kira again...

That fake fellow prisoner telling her he remembers her... that's terrifying, being made to doubt your own memories like that

Sisko being so soft with her <3

There's a Garak in this episode! :D

I think this episode was better the first time round with the suspense, but it is interesting knowing what's going on and seeing what manipulations are at play

"I was wondering if you'd like to join me for a late night snack." WE know that that's code for I have something important to tell you but Julian doesn't, so is Garak offering a late night snack just a normal enough thing for Julian, or is he just oblivious?

Interesting the connections here of Iliana being very artistic, while Nerys is awful at art despite her djarra

Oh man, knowing Ghemor is not pretending but really believes she's his daughter makes him so much more likeable throughout the episode.

Sisko is very good at blackmail.

(I feel cheated we didn't get Garak and Julian's conversation and skipped straight to this)

"I'll go along on your fool's errand, but I want one thing to be perfectly clear. I have no intention of sacrificing my life to save yours. If it looks like we're in danger of being captured, if there's any signs of trouble at all, you're on your own." // "Mister Garak, I believe that's the first completely honest thing you've ever said to me."

Ghemor is a Good Parent

Kira's distress, ohhhh Kira 💔

How DOES Entek know about her private memory? (Can the Obsidian Order instil memories like they say, and they just gave her this one, specific thing when she arrived on Cardassia?)

"he quarters on this vessel are rather claustrophobic." Oh, Garak, that's possibly not just an excuse...

"It was just something I overheard while hemming someone's trousers." Sometimes I think this sort of line is overused in fanfiction compared to canon, but actually, no, Garak really is like this All The Time XD

>>>>> Also, the use of trousers is pretty British English, right? It's almost like Garak's spending too much time hanging out with a Brit.... 👀

KIRA NO MY HEART

"You're my daughter, Iliana. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you. Even if it means losing you again." HE'S SO SOFT

Despite the Massive Stress she's under, Kira's still able to put everything together and work out what's really going on, what a legend <3

That Odo trick was Extremely Slick

"Don't worry, he's on our side... I think." XD Yeah, valid 

Tekeny <3 "No I want you to have it" - so sweet

"I realise now you're an honourable man. And I think your daughter must have loved you very much." Oh Nerys. My heart. The Feelings this episode creates... ❤️❤️

Fantastic episode. Kira is everything <333333

[asexyattorney]

If I were allowed to go back and change one random detail of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I would say that everything in Second Skin was actually true. Kira's real identity really is Iliana Ghemor. She was a Cardassian agent from the Obsidian order surgically altered to look Bajoran. At some point in the episode, she regains some of her memories from before, but she also remembers everything from her fake life as if it were real, plus all the real memories she made since living as Kira. In the end, she decided to continue to live as a Bajoran and returns to the station.

Of course, in classic Star Trek fashion, this would be a completely life-altering, traumatic and crazy plot twist to happen only to be imididiatly forgotten about after (like they did with all of O'brien's storylines). Characters would bring it up every once in a while, like "remember that time Kira found out she was a Cardassian spy? That was weird huh?" But otherwise it wouldn't much impact her character at all. Just some thing that happened once. You know, some people will get mentally tortured for 20 years but it was all in their head. Some people will cross the transwarp threshold and have lizard babies with their boss. Some people are secretly cardassian spies who had their body and memories altered for a mission. You know how it is.

[kitkatt0430]

I know Iliana Ghemor's fate is answered in the relaunch books, but it would have been interesting to have her show up after her father died on the show.

Admittedly, I don't know what they could have done with her. But I never found her fate in the books all that satisfying, so just about anything else would have appealed to me more.

It would have been interesting if her undercover mission had broken her loyalty to the Cardassian state. And Nana Visitor acting opposite herself was well done with the mirror verse, so having her do that in a different dynamic from Kira & the Intendent would have been fun.

[oldschoolfic-ds9]

Character and ship tags:

E - K (Kahless)

Character and ship tags navigation:

directory

A - B

C - D (Ezri Dax)

D (Jadzia Dax) - D (Dukat)

E - K (Kahless)

K (Lenara Kahn) - L (Lauren)

L (Leeta) - O (Kirayoshi O'Brien)

O (Miles O'Brien) - Q (Q)

Q (Quark) - S (Benjamin Sisko)

S (Jake Sisko) - T

V - Z

Notes: For each character, we've listed a character tag as well as all ship tags that involve that character (sometimes none). Characters are alphabetized by surname, when known. Ships for a given character are alphabetized by the surnames of the other character(s) in the ship. A tag for the character's "miscellaneous" ships (that is, character/non-ds9 character ships, character/OC ships, and ships which only have one fic) is always given at the top of the list of ships for that character.

E

Michael Eddington   |   #eddingtonfic

Sisko/Eddington   |   #siskoeddingtonfic

Kasidy Yates/Eddington   |   #kasidyeddingtonfic

Entek   |   #entekfic

Damar/Entek   |   #damarentekfic

Eris   |   #erisfic

Weyoun/Eris | #weyounerisfic

Eris (mirror)   |   #merisfic

Weyoun(mirror)/Eris(mirror)   |   #mweyounmeris

F

Felix   |   #felixfic

Vic Fontaine   |   #vicfontaine

Vic Fontaine/other   |   #vicmisc

Ezri Dax/Vic   |   #edaxvic

Quark/Vic | #quarkvic

Female Founder   |   #ffounder

Female Founder/other   |   #ffoundermisc

Female Founder/Weyoun   |   #ffounderweyoun

G

Elim Garak   |   #egarak

Garak/other   |   #garakmisc

Garak/Bareil   |   #bareilgarakfic

Garak/Bashir   |   #garakbashirfic

Garak/Bashir(mirror)   |   #garakmbashir

Garak/Bashir/Ezri Dax   |   #garakbashiredax

Garak/Bashir/Jadzia Dax   |   #garakbashirjdax

Garak/Bashir/Dukat   |   #garakbashirdukat

Garak/Bashir/other   |   #garakbashirmisc

Garak/Chalan Aroya   |   #garakaroyafic

Garak/Damar   |   #garakdamarfic

Ezri Dax/Garak   |   #edaxgarak

Garak/Jadzia Dax   |   #garakjdax

Garak/Dukat   |   #garakdukatfic

Garak/Garak(mirror)   |   #garakmgarak

Garak/Lenara Kahn   |   #garaklenara

Garak/Keevan   |   #garakkeevan

Garak/Kira   |   #garakkira

Garak/Lwaxana   |   #garaklwaxanafic

Garak/Naprem | #garaknapremfic

Garak/Nechayev | #garaknechayevfic

Garak/Nog   |   #garaknogfic

Garak/O’Brien  |   #garakobrienfic

Garak/O’Brien/Worf  |   #garakobrienworffic

Garak/Odo   |   #garakodo

Garak/Picard | #garakpicardfic

Garak/Q   |   #garakqfic

Garak/Quark   |   #garakquark

Sisko/Garak   |   #siskogarakfic

Garak/Jake Sisko   |   #garakjakefic

Garak/Tain   |   #garaktain

Garak/Worf   |   #garakworffic

Garak/Ziyal   |   #garakziyal

Garak (mirror)   |   #megarak

Garak(mirror)/other   |   #mgarakmisc

Garak(mirror)/Bashir   |   #mgarakbashir

Garak/Garak(mirror)   |   #garakmgarak

Garak(mirror)/Kira(mirror)   |   #mgarakintendant

Garak(mirror)/Kira   |   kiramgarak

Garak(mirror)/Sloan   |   #mgaraksloan

Garak(mirror)/Worf(mirror)   |   #mgarakmworf

Iliana Ghemor   |   #ilianaghemorfic

Tekeny Ghemor   |   #tekenyghemorfic

Grilka   |   #grilkafic

Grilka/other   |   #grilkamisc

Bashir/Grilka   |   #bashirgrilkafic

H

Commander Hilliard   |   #commanderhilliardfic

I

Ishka   |   #ishkafic

Ishka/other   |   #ishkamisc

Jadzia Dax/Ishka   |   #jdaxishkafic

Jadzia Dax/Ishka/Lwaxana   |   #jdaxishkalwaxana

Ishka/Lwaxana Troi   |   #ishkalwaxanafic

Ishka/Vash | #ishkavashfic

Ishka/Zek   |   #ishkazek

J

Jack   |   #jackfic

Cyrano Jones   |   #cyranojonesfic

K

Kahless   |   #kahlessfic

[novakspector]

[the-last-dillpickle]

Thinking about that one fic that asks who was the body they showed Kira in the episode Second Skin and ends with suggesting that was the fate of the real Iliana Ghemor