Chapter 36 - The lookalikes of Adolf Hitler (Patreon)

Despite the pervasiveness of Cardassian arrogance, some Cardassians weren’t entirely stupid or incapable of recognizing and adapting to changed circumstances, so in recent years a few of the smarter high-level officers, often ones who had managed to survive an assassination attempt or two by the Resistance, having learned that they weren’t actually immortal and that the Bajorans were a devious and dangerous lot to underestimate, had started using body doubles when in public situations where their safety couldn’t be guaranteed. Some unlucky bastard, oftentimes a low-level soldier forced to go under the knife and face the danger of getting killed in various high-risk situations, would take the risk for the more important and higher-ranking man.

While we felt it was unlikely in this particular case, nonetheless I'd spent some time studying detailed images of Gul Divoc so that no simple look-alike would fool me. Thankfully, the advanced electronic optics in the 24th century allowed me to zoom in to a ridiculous degree and spot the differences in a Cardassian that only semi-looked like the Gul. If the Gul had a surgically altered double, however, then I could still be fooled without a DNA scan to confirm, but we had no reason to believe that Divoc had gone to such great lengths. It took a lot of time, pain, effort and skill to make a perfect body double through surgery and while this guy was a Gul, he just wasn't yet high up enough in the chain of command or on the planet long enough to justify the great expense.