Telek (father)

Gul Telek was the Cardassian prefect of Rakantha Province during the Bajoran Occupation. During the occupation, he had a child with a Bajoran woman - his only child. Having such a child would have ruined him, as Cardassian culture valued moral familial codes, but without other children he needed to carry on his lineage. Telek subjected his son, also Telek, to Project Enigma, a secret research project at the University of the Union which subjected half-Bajoran children to gene therapy to alter his Bajoran genetics to appear or be Cardassian. The project was revealed in 2388, and the younger Telek, by that point a gul serving the new democratic Cardassian Union, realized the crushing shame of not being the son his father had wanted. Telek then surprised the castellan, Elim Garak, at his private residence - as Garak was sponsoring an inquiry into Cardassian war crimes, which included what the later Telek senior had done. (DS9 novel: Enigma Tales)