Never Ending Sacrifice

I started reading this novel Wednesday September 21, 2022. It has 352 pages. I completed reading this on Friday December 9, 2022.

"Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass his own home and parents? In far lands he shall not, though he found a house of gold." Homer, The Odyssey

Migdal and Rugal, a father and son went up to Deep Space Nine from Bajor. The first person they met was Garek. Migdal was Pudar's, a Cardassians, son.

Before Rugal with the Cardassian Chief Miles O'Brian said to him, "If you need anything, let me know."

Family is extremely important on Cardassia. Rugal  was introduced to his grandmother. Kotan was part of the Civilian Assembly, a scientific advisor to their ruling body, the Detapa Council.

"Cardassia was a world of contradictions there were grandmothers, who claimed to care for nothing but family, but who you dead there were conversations you had to pretend were held in secret, when everyone knew that  they were  spied upon. And then there were Father's but who said had take that you loved you, but had taken you away from all you loved." 

The Never- Ending Sacrifice p. 33

Ragul picked up the book "The Never-Ending Sacrifice" book Ulan Corac, but never made it past the first chapter.

"Cardassians were vicious and heartless and lacked whatever gene carried compassion. They were the complete opposite of Bajorean. Bajorean were the kind of people that would adopt children abandoned by those who had almost abandoned their beautiful, benevolent world."

The Never- Ending Sacrifice pp. 37-38

"The heart of an empire is often beautiful to behold and cruel to contemplate."

The Never- Ending Sacrifice p. 38

Rugal made a friend, Penelya. She was an orphan who was studying plants.

"You don't fit in with people's expectations. Your not quite the same as they are, and because of that you make them feel uncomfortable. But instead of trying to understand what you are, for yourself, they dislike you for making them feel uncomfortable. That's what it's like sometimes."

Rugal

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 43

"A harmonious family is the bedrock of a harmonious state."

The Never- Ending Sacrifice p. 46

"Why would Cardassia do this to their children? Why not let them become everything they could be? What were they afraid would happen, if they simply let them go?"

The Never- Ending Sacrifice p. 50

Rugal spoke up in class about Bajor and how Cardassian history books showed it wrong, and was talked to by his teacher. A member of the Obsidian Order came to his father and him as well. 

"On Bajor everyone was poor, it tucked away below bridges." 

The Never- Ending Sacrifice p. 66

Rugal's Bajoren mom died.

"There’s a lot of empty space between here and Bajor. You could be trying to find a way back for a long time, doing nothing better than wishing you were somewhere else? Is that good enough for you? Is there nothing worthwhile you could do on Cardassia? Nothing you want to do?

Penelya 

The Never- Ending Sacrifice p. 94

"If you could not say what you were thinking, how could you ever work out whether it was wrong or right? How could you work out how to make your ideas better?"

Rugal

The Never- Ending Sacrifice p. 95

Rugal decided not to go back to the academy, and therefore would have to look for new ways to spend his time. Rugal was discussing the fact that their should be elections on Cardassia, to which his father said their needs to be more education first.

Rugal was giving out food at night on the Cardassian streets.

"The open secrets that nobody voiced. Life would be so much easier if they all simply talked to one another. It was almost as if Cardassians preferred life to be complicated. The best option, Rugal decided was to be honest and to hope his actions spoke as loudly for him as his words."

Rugal

The Never- Ending Sacrifice pp. 105-106

The Obsidian Order fell. It was replaced by The Cardassian Intelligence Bureau. Rugal was trying to help his friends escape, but they resisted until the last minute. Then he managed to. He got them out of there by stashing there IDs and using his to get them through and since his father is high in authority they had no problem. Kotan was on the search for his Bajorean father, Rugal would stay on Deep Space Nine. Kotan found out that his father died before he got there. The Klingons are going to attack Cardassia Prime.

"If life was a battleground, all you could ever do was be a victim or victor."

The Never- Ending Sacrifice p. 143

"Any God will do right, now true, false, friendly, hostile--I'm open for business."

The Never- Ending Sacrifice p. 144

"It all comes down in the end to need. Needing to have more than anyone else. Perhaps now that you've seen one of our droughts you understand why. Gather all you can to you to you, because as sure as the hot sun rises in the morning, the rain will stop and the food will run out. Gather up everything you can from wherever you can."

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 150

"We are the sum that has gone before. We are the source of all to come."

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 161

"If I'm going to enjoy my life, I might as well enjoy myself doing it."

The Never-Ending Sacrifice Alon p. 170

"Duty at least, should keep them going, even if there was a little promise of reward." 

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 172

"Friends had been in lamentably short supply on Cardassia Prime." 

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 180

"People here have all these reasons to hate each other, and they feed them rather than try to lose their appetite for them. And they brought that way of doing things to Bajor and now Bajor has to struggle with exactly the same problem. And that's not to say that people don't have good reasons to hate each other. Bajor has every reason to hate Cardassia--and I do understand why people want revenge, and reparations, but...when will it end."

Zeyal

The Never-Ending Sacrifice 183-184

Dukot put Cardassia under Dominion authority. Meya Rejel and Tetretis Geyl opposed the remarks.

"People of Cardassia, I call on us to stand united at this time. Let us not bow down to tyranny; let us not give way to threat. We are a proud people and we will survive."

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 191

Rugal was being drafted by Dukot for the Cardassian War with the Klingons. Rugal received a medal. The Breen entered the War on the Cardassians side. Rugal and Tret found Romulan Commander Tret injured when he took Tret down for medical treatment. Rugal told her the war had ended and helped her out.

Rugal woke up to Selik holding Tret hostage. However Tret managed to talk the situation down peacefully. After a three day stay at a Cardassian garrison the Commander killed herself with her disrupter. Tret was in and out of consciousness as they traveled and asked Rugal  where the Commander was. He died three days after.

"Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die. And it is the youth that must inherit the tribulation, the sorrows, and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war." Herbert Hoover

HARF stands for Headquarters Allied Reconstruction Forces.

"The sun isn't shining everywhere."

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 250

Rugal was on the Starship Lotus as a medic. Rugal left the ship when they reached Ithic in search for Penelya. The ship left him for three months to find her, but the captain gave him a subspace transponder to call them earlier if needed. He went to her house. He never found her though. Rugal accepted Penelya death. He would work her farm until his ship returned. There was a young human girl on the farm, Rugal had been conversing with her some.

Hulya was the girls name. Before their first meal together, Rugal insisted she take a bath, which she welcomed. Then Rugal found clothes for her in Penala's closet.

"I think we get angry when people die because we feel like they've left us behind. They've left us having to carry on and cope with the whole mess of being alive."

Rugal

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 295

Hulya saw a teacher, while shopping with Rugal. Arani, a Cardassian woman has come.

"You never could overestimate how resourceful people could be." 

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 312

Gheta arrived after winter to Rugal's farm. She was the youngest amongst them.

Dr. Anders wants to take Hulya away, because she is having tantrums. They tried to remove Hulya by force, but couldn't manage it.

"There’s something you need to understand, I was brought up on Bajor, by Bajoreans. They were my parents. The only ones I ever knew. Then my biological father turned up alive, and a Starfleet Officer decided it was better for me to go back to Cardassia with him. But it wasn't. He was wrong, and it did me great harm. I don't  want Hulya to forget she's human, and I'm the last person on this world to make her think she is Cardassian. But she's safe and happy. She wants to be with us. That's where she should stay."

Rugal

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 322

Five more Cardassians were sent to live with them. The Lotus was on its way back. Rugul was going on the Lotus. Rugal visited Miles. He wanted to become a Federation citizen. Miles contacted Garek about this. Rugal recalled he bite Garek on the hand at Quarks on Deep Space Nine. Garek forgave him and helped Rugal. It was weeks before his case, during which time he and Hulya were guests of Garek.

"Seeing this place, Rugal thought he could understand why Commander Sisko might have chosen to send him back to Cardassia. People who had been happy in their homes often lacked imagination; they lacked the understanding that what had been a source of joy for some might be a prison for others. This was the only reason he could find to explain Sisko's actions--other than cruelty, which did not seem likely in a man Miles O'Brian respected. Earth explained a great deal-- although perhaps it did not excuse it."

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 343

"What I chiefly wanted to say was that there were tragic time's for my people. And it seems to me that the chief tragedy of our history is the demands we have made and obligations we have placed upon generation after generation. I have come to believe that if Cardassia is ever to escape our history, it must reciprocate these obligations and no longer require these sacrifices most of all, we must learn to let go." 

Garek

The Never-Ending Sacrifice p. 348

Rugal became a Federation citizen. Rugal went with Hulya to Bajor. He buried his earing by his parents resting places. The they went to Cardassia. He was officially gone to adopt Hulya. Rugal then stopped by the Pa'Dar house, which was rubble now, but said his thanks for the gift of life. Rugal met Penelya and they went off with Hulya.