engineered virus on an uninhabited planet. Picard is sent to infiltrate and destroy the weapon but is apprehended and tortured by the Cardassian Gul Madred (David Warner). "Chain of Command Part I" included the first mentions that the Cardassians' homeworld was called "Cardassia", and the "Cardassian Union" as the name of their interstellar state (previously mentioned only as the "Cardassian Empire"). "Chain of Command PartI" also introduced the news that the Cardassians had withdrawn from Bajor, setting the stage for the events of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which began airing a month later. The show's designers introduced the Cardassians' hand weapon in this episode, with Sternbach describing it as like a "copper-colored banana". Part Two of "Chain of Command" provided a brief history of the Cardassians and their military government. The Cardassians also appeared in the sixth season episode "The Chase", written by Joe Menosky and Ronald D. Moore and screened in April 1993, where it is revealed that humans and Cardassians—as well as the Klingons and Romulans—are all descended from an ancient species who seeded many planets with life. In the seventh season episode "Journey's End", written by Ronald D. Moore, it is explained that the treaty between the Federation and the Cardassians left various Federation planets in Cardassian territory, and that many of these Federation colonists refused to leave. Their presence and struggle for independence from Cardassian rule was a recurring theme in both Deep Space Nine and Voyager. "Journey's End" was the first time Cardassian communicators were shown, affixed to the actors' wrists. The conflict between the Cardassians and the rebel colonists, known as the Maquis, was again used as the basis for the series' penultimate episode, "Preemptive Strike", written by Naren Shankar and René Echevarria and directed by Stewart. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Launching the new series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was the pilot episode "Emissary", written by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. Focussing on the aftermath of the Cardassian departure from Bajor, the premise of the series revolves around the Federation taking control of Deep Space Nine, a Cardassian-built space station orbiting Bajor, at the request of the Bajoran provisional government. In "Emissary", the station's new Starfleet commander, Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) is visited by the Cardassian who formerly served as prefect of Bajor, Gul Dukat, played by Marc Alaimo. Alaimo had played a different Cardassian character in The Next Generation, but