“Covenant” is episode nine of season seven of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Ezri, Dr. Bashir and Odo are in Quark’s. Odo orders a drink from Quark, even though he doesn’t drink – it’s for Kira for when she finishes the religious service. Which involved a sermon for two hours on forgiving the people who hurt you. Odo would like to go to services with Kira, but she says that he needs to believe in the Prophets. Odo would like an Orb experience, but Kira says it doesn’t really work like that. Odo is not interested in just becoming religious; he wants to go to religious services with Kira.
That night, Kira is visited by a Vedek, Fala, one she knows, a teacher from her childhood. He has brought her something, a small crystal that glows and then Kira is transported off the station. She arrives in a temple on the long-abandoned, and very distant, Empok Nor. The crystal was a transponder, allowing her to be beamed greater distances. In the temple are Bajorans wearing the red armbands of a Pah-wraith cult. They say she must have questions, which she can put to the Master – Dukat.
Dukat says the Pah-wraiths are not evil and asks how the Prophets could stand by during the Occupation of Bajor by Cardassia. According to Dukat, the Prophets are not the true gods but the Pah-wraiths are. They were cast out from the Celestial Temple because they wanted to care for the Bajorans and he says that the Pah-wraiths speak to him in visions, for he is their Emissary.
Dukat says he has changed since he was touched by a god, after he took a Pah-wraith inside him in “Tears of the Prophets”. Dukat blames the Prophets for the Occupation, and says that they abandoned Bajor. He says that one day the Pah-wraiths will reclaim the Celestial Temple, for the Pah-wraiths are the true Prophets.
Dukat spins plausible tales, but does he believe it himself? His sanity has been in doubt ever since the death of his daughter Ziyal in “Sacrifice of Angels”. Is it a cunning plan? Kira certainly thinks so. The Bajorans on Empok Nor have formed a community, and they truly seem to believe in Dukat. Kira’s former teacher, Fala, says that he became a member of the Pah-wraith cult long before Dukat’s influence, near the end of the Occupation, as that caused him to lose his faith in the Prophets. Dukat, who has always seemed to have a fascination with Kira, wants to convince her as to the truth of what she says, and she can wander around the station talking to the others, just not leave. It’s not surprising that the topic of forgiveness comes up.
Back on DS9, Kira has been discovered to be missing. The range of Dominion transporters is three light years – which actually isn’t that far. That would put Empok Nor probably in a close system to Bajor. A little inaccurate over distances there.
There are various exterior shots of Empok Nor, all of which show the station at an angle, presumably to show it’s abandoned, even though gravity inside is working normally.