Ilona Daret was a Cardassian male Doctor in the 24th century.
In 2357, Daret was on the planet Fradon II, which had been under attack by the Cardassian Union due to the presence of a Federation supply depot. Though it is unclear whether Daret was a doctor with the invasion, or had been there, he had nevertheless been injured. He was taken aboard the Federation Hospital ship USS Sanctuary. While there, he refused to get immediate treatment, as his wounds hadn't been bad. Instead, he offered to assist Beverly Crusher in treating the Cardassian injuries. Though not standard procedure, Crusher and her medical staff were badly understaffed simply due to the sheer number of injuries there had been in the attack on the Depot. She agreed after she realized his wounds really weren't bad and she figured he'd share useful information about treating his own people. From that day, Crusher and Daret had stayed in contact.
Again in 2369, Daret encountered Crusher during a crisis, but this time on the planet Jevalan. Daret had been stationed in the Olanda Labor Camp as a Doctor and managed to survive the mass uprising of Bajoran workers when he began to treat their wounds. He did so until the Federation Starship USS Enterprise arrived, at which point Crusher and her medical staff began to help the injured workers.
In 2375, after the Dominion War, Daret had returned to Jevalan to assist the Bajorans in identifying the dead that had been buried by rubble in the original attack. It was a tedious task which was spread out among the former labor camps, as the Cardassians did a number in each camp before retreating.
By 2385, Daret had still been working on the planet Jevalan, in the Olanda Labor Camp to identify bodies buried in the bombardment. While doing so, Daret and his Bajoran friend Raal Mosara had discovered evidence that the current Federation President Pro Tempore Ishan Anjar, was in fact Baras Rodirya. When he learned this, he contacted his old friend Beverly Crusher, as he figured she was the only one who he could trust. Crusher arrived with two security officers from the USS Enterprise, Rennan Konya and Kirsten Cruzen, who were prepared to assist Daret in getting the evidence off world. As they gathered evidence, Thomas Riker also arrived to help. Riker would be instrumental in identifying a Special Ops Team that had orders to bring in Daret, who Rodirya had identified as having vital evidence. Riker helped Daret and the team avoid the attention, but eventually the Special Ops Team Active Six would locate them at a Bajoran Temple, where Mosara had hidden a second cache of evidence. Riker put together a plan to ambush the rest of the team, as only two of the members of Active Six had found them. The plan seemed to be working at first, but eventually the entirety of the team had been captured. In the struggle, Daret was stabbed and had needed medical attention. Crusher was allowed to attempt to treat Daret by her captors and served as an ample distraction, long enough for Riker to renew his attack. Active Six was eventually overcome and taken into custody by the Enterprise, which had arrived after discovering Crusher had been in trouble. Daret was immediately brought up to the ship and had his wounds treated, allowing him to survive. (TNG - The Sky's the Limit short story: "Acts of Compassion", ST - The Fall novel: Peaceable Kingdoms)
- The character's first name was given as "Ialona" in "Acts of Compassion".
