Bashir: So there I was, fighting the toughest battle of my life, looking around hoping to spot a friendly face only to diskover my colleagues were gone. I was alone. I admit, for a moment there, I considered giving up. I could feel the seconds ticking away, panic building up inside of me. I knew my only chance was to trust my instincts. So I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and just like that it came to me, the answer I was looking for. A pericardial membrane. I looked down and punched the answer into my computer terminal just as the buzzer sounded ending the exam. And that, I suppose, is the stuff salutatorians are made.
Woman: Salutatorian?
Bashir: Well, I mistook a preganglionic fiber for a postganglianic nerve during the orals or I would have been valedictorian. It was a trick question.
Woman: Fascinating.
Bashir: Not nearly as fascinating as when I
Sisko: Doctor Bashir. Chief O'Brien. Report to landing pad five.
Bashir: Bad timing.
Woman: There'll be another time.
Bashir: Starfleet medical finals. Gets them every time.
Kira: It's no use.
Sisko: Chief, we have to get this hatch open. Lieutenant Dax and Ensign Pauley are trapped in there.
Kira: The runabout barely made it back through the wormhole. By the time they docked, power levels were near zero.
O'Brien: There's not even enough juice left in the ship to release the servos.
Bashir: Life support's down. Oxygen levels have dropped dangerously low.
Kira: We'll have to burn it through.
Sisko: Forget it Major. The hatch is made of duranium composite. It'll take you an hour to get through.
Bashir: We don't have that much time. That's odd. How many passengers did you say were onboard the Ganges?
Sisko: Two.
Bashir: I'm reading three.
O'Brien: We need to get power to the hatch servos. Major, hand me the EPI capacitor. There, middle shelf.
O'Brien: Try her now.
Bashir: Dax.
Dax: I'm fine, check the others.
O'Brien: Vash?
Vash: That's right?
O'Brien: Miles O'Brien, from the Enterprise.
Vash: Oh. Yes, of course.
O'Brien: What are you doing on the Ganges?
Dax: We found her in the Gamma Quadrant. She'd been there for over two years.
O'Brien: Two years?
Sisko: Doctor, we'd better get these people over to the infirmary.
Bashir: Right this way.
O'Brien: How did you get to the Gamma Quadrant two years ago?
Vash: A friend dropped me off.
O'Brien: Oh.
Vash: Will I live?
Bashir: You're fine. In fact, you're in remarkable shape.
Vash: Thank you, Doctor. I try.
Bashir: I, I, I mean you've managed quite well considering you've been out of contact with civilisation for over two years.
Vash: I'd hardly call the Gamma Quadrant uncivilized. Some of the cultures I've encountered have histories that date back millions of years.
Bashir: Really? I'd love to hear about them. I mean, we have no idea what's beyond the wormhole.
Vash: Well, maybe I'll write a book.
Bashir: It's sure to be a best-seller around here. Well, er, no sign of disease or malnutrition or parasitic infections.
Vash: You sound disappointed.
Bashir: I am. Now I have no reason to keep you here.
Vash: You almost make me wish I wasn't feeling well.
Sisko: And she claims she knew nothing about the wormhole?
Dax: She did seem very surprised when I told her about it. I don't think she ever expected to see this part of the galaxy again.
Sisko: How could she get there in the first place if she didn't go through the wormhole?
Dax: She said she didn't want to talk about it. Said it was a personal matter.
Sisko: This doesn't make sense. A human alone in the Gamma Quadrant for two years? Let's check her background. See what we can find out about her.
Dax: She claims to be an archeologist.
Sisko: That's a good place to start.
Vash: You're sure this place is safe?
Clerk: The Assay office is the most secure area on the station. The chambers are surrounded on all sides by individual force fields.
Vash: And how are the locks controlled?
Clerk: Once you secure a chamber, it can't be opened except with your personal authorization code combined with a verified retinal print.
Vash: A Cardassian MK-seven scanner?
Clerk: MK-twelve, with an L-ninety enhanced resolution filter.
Vash: Well, I suppose that'll have to do.
Clerk: Computer, begin inventory for cubicle nineteen. One statue, stone, thirty odd centimeters tall, approximately eight kilograms. Assorted gems. Gold necklace. One dagger, bronze and gold, about twenty five centimeters.
Clerk: Beautiful. I've never seen anything quite like it. Some kind of Promethean quartz.
Vash: I thought so too, at first, but it's molecular density and refraction index is much higher.
Clerk: Remarkable. End inventory. Please, enter an access code.
Vash: All right, I'll be back tomorrow to pick everything up. I've booked passage on the Mulzirak Transport.
Sisko: You're not leaving us so soon?
Vash: I'm afraid so.
Sisko: The Daystrom Institute will be very disappointed.
Vash: The Daystrom Institute?
Sisko: Their scientists are anxious to hear about life in the Gamma Quadrant. Every place you've been, everything you've seen, no matter how insignificant, could prove important. Including how you got there.
Vash: I'm sorry, Commander, but that's a SISKO +
Vash: Personal matter.
Vash: So now the Daystrom Institute is interested in me. well, that's ironic.
Sisko: Professor Woo seemed especially eager to speak to you again.
Vash: Did he really? I suppose he told you that he suspended my membership from the Institute's Archeological Council?
Sisko: On two occasions. Something about the sale of illegal artifacts.
Vash: Well, when it comes to choosing between science and profit, I'll choose profit every time.
Sisko: The professor was hoping you'd make an exception in this case.
Vash: You know, I haven't been back to Earth in, it must be twelve years.
Sisko: Here's your chance. I could arrange passage.
Vash: I think I'd like that.
Sisko: Fine. I'll take care of it.
O'Brien: I don't understand it, Commander. I can't find anything wrong with her. This ship is completely functional.
Sisko: It didn't look that way this morning.
O'Brien: Oh, don't get me wrong. The power reserves are empty, the inertial damping fields are barely operational, and the warp drive containment field's on the verge of collapse.
Sisko: But
O'Brien: But there's nothing wrong with any of them. Once we put power back into her, she should be fully operational.
Sisko: Did you check the central power linkages?
O'Brien: Yes, sir. I ran a level one diagnostic. Everything checks out. I can't explain it. It's like something tapped into the ship's systems and drained them dry.
Sisko: Tell me Chief, how well do you know this woman Vash?
O'Brien: Hardly at all. I only met her that one time she was aboard the Enterprise.
Sisko: What was she doing there?
O'Brien: Well Sir, Vash and Captain Picard were friends. Close friends, if you follow my meaning. Seems they met on Risa a few years back.
O'Brien: I think she must be a special woman, being friends with the Captain and all.
Sisko: Somehow she doesn't seem to be his type.
O'Brien: The Captain likes a good challenge, sir.
Sisko: Status report?
Dax: We suffered a broad spectrum power drain.
Kira: Power transfer is completely inoperative. The energy was drawn out faster than it could handle.
O'Brien: I'll have to replace the whole unit.
Dax: Chief, are you reading any graviton flux around the transfer systems?
O'Brien: I am detecting a low level graviton disturbance. How did you know?
Dax: That's exactly what happened when we lost power on the Ganges.
O'Brien: These were originally Cardassian living quarters. The bed may take some getting use to.
Vash: As an archeologist, I've spent half my life sleeping in tents. To me, any bed will be a luxury.
O'Brien: You've obviously never slept on a Cardassian mattress. If you need anything, just ask the computer.
Vash: Thanks, Chief. Oh, by the way, how's Jean-Luc?
O'Brien: The Captain? The last time I saw him he was fine.
Vash: Now that I'm back, I'll have to look him up.
Q: Really, Vash, I can't believe you're still pining for Jean-Luc, that self righteous do-gooder.
Vash: I should have listened to him. He warned me about you.
Q: You're hurt, you strike back. I understand. But be of good cheer, I bring wonderful news. I'm back. I can see now it was cruel of me to leave you.
Vash: Very touching. But you didn't leave me, I left you.
Q: You left me, I left you Details, mere details. The important thing is we're back together again. A team, joined together at the hip.
Vash: Not a chance.
Q: You know you're going to miss me.
Vash: Don't flatter yourself.
Q: You know, I thought first we'd visit the Teleris Cluster, look in on the star dancers at Mundahla. Or maybe head over to the Lantar nebula and view the Sampalo relic on Hoek Four.
Vash: Not interested.
Q: I know. Vadris Three. Charming little world. The natives think they're the only intelligent life in the universe.
Vash: No.
Q: All right, you choose then.
Vash: I choose never to go anywhere with you again, Q.
Q: You don't know what you're missing. When we started this little partnership, I promised to take you places no human had ever seen before.
Vash: And you have. It was wonderful. Thank you. Now goodbye.
Q: Two years in the Gamma Quadrant hardly qualifies as a grand tour of the universe. There's still the Delta Quadrant to explore, not to mention all the other galaxies.
Vash: It's over, Q. I want you out of my life. You are arrogant, you are overbearing and you think you know everything.
Q: But I do know everything.
Vash: That makes it even worse.
Q: All right, fine, what is it you really want?
Vash: I want the life I had before I met you.
Q: And a stellar life indeed. The eminent Vash. Barred from the Royal Museum of Epsilon Hydra Seven, persona non grata on Betazed. Wanted dead on Myrmidon for stealing the Crown of the First Mother.
Vash: Dead or alive.
Q: Preferably dead. It's a wonder you haven't offended every sentient race in the galaxy.
Vash: You're the one who almost got me killed on Errikang Seven. And they weren't exactly thrilled to see you on Brax either. What did they call you? The God of Lies?
Q: They meant it affectionately.
Vash: Come in.
Quark: I
Q: Go away.
Vash: Q, bring him back.
Q: What business could you possibly have with that disgusting little troll?
Vash: I don't know. You didn't give him time to tell me. Now bring him back this instant.
Q: All right.
Vash: Can I help you?
Quark: My name is Quark. It's come to my attention that you have access to certain items. Items that might perhaps turn a tidy profit.
Vash: I'm listening.
Quark: For a percentage, I might be able to arrange a buyer for your trinkets. Perhaps an auction.
Vash: I'll only accept payment in gold-pressed latinum.
Quark: I'll shower you in it. Fifty-fifty.
Vash: Mister Quark, I believe you're trying to take advantage of me.
Quark: Some wine?
Quark: . You have a talent for oo-mox.
Vash: So I've been told.
Quark: I'll not be distracted by your feminine wiles. I demand forty percent.
Quark: All right, thirty.
Vash: What magnificent cartilage.
Quark: Twenty two and don't stop.
Vash: You've got a deal. I expect you to make all the necessary arrangements.
Quark: Oh, you're good. You're very, very good.
Q: How perfectly vile. If that's the kind of company you kept before meeting me, it's no wonder you ended up with Picard.
Vash: Go away.
Vash: Enter.
Q: Aren't we the hub of activity?
Bashir: I'm sorry. Am I interrupting anything?
Vash: No. Come in, Doctor.
Bashir: Thank you. And please, call me Julian.
Vash: Julian. Is this medical business?
Bashir: Well, to tell the truth, I tried to come up with some official reason for dropping by, but your excellent health has robbed me of any excuses.
Vash: Well, that didn't seem to stop you.
Bashir: So I thought I'd contribute to your good health by buying you dinner. Quark's makes a delicious couscous, and the company, I hope, might be mildly entertaining.
Vash: Sounds like fun. Though I would like to freshen up first. Could I meet you there in, say, twenty minutes or so?
Bashir: Those twenty minutes will seem like an eternity.
Q: These mating rituals you humans indulge in really are quite disgusting.
Vash: Get out.
Q: You know you don't mean it.
Vash: Out.
Q: You're making a terrible mistake. You'd be lost without me.
Vash: I can take care of myself.
Q: Really? Well, we'll see about that.
Bashir: Just a cup of mint tea.
Q: You're making a terrible mistake.
Bashir: Why? The replicators haven't malfunctioned again?
Q: I'm talking about Vash. Stay away from her.
Bashir: My god, you're an impertinent waiter.
Q: I'm a friend. I'm giving you friendly advice. She's nothing but trouble.
Bashir: Really? Well I don't think it's any of your business who I see. In fact, I'm having dinner with her now.
Q: Are you sure you're feeling up to it? You look tired.
Bashir: I feel fine.
Q: No, no, no. You look tired. Very, very tired.
Bashir: Funny, I do feel a bit, a bit spent. Maybe I should go and lie down for a few minutes.
Q: Hopefully by yourself for a change.
O'Brien: Bloody hell.
Kira: Sir, the Klingon scout ship has departed docking bay eleven.
Sisko: Good. I'll tell Odo he can relax now.
O'Brien: We've got a problem. sir. I just saw Q on the Promenade.
Sisko: Q? Here?
Kira: What's Q?
Sisko: A powerful and extremely unpredictable entity. I was at a Starfleet briefing on him two years ago.
O'Brien: Blasted menace, is what he is.
Dax: What does he want with us?
Sisko: Whatever it is, you can be sure we won't like it.
O'Brien: You might ask Vash.
Dax: Why Vash?
O'Brien: They know each other.
Sisko: From the Enterprise?
O'Brien: I believe they actually met in Sherwood Forest. It was one of the little jokes Q played on the Enterprise crew.
Kira: Main power grid has dropped eighty percent.
Dax: Sensors are reading a massive graviton build-up.
Sisko: How long will it take to bring us back up to full power?
Dax: It's already beginning to normalize.
Kira: You know, if we have one of these outages during a docking procedure, we could lose an entire pylon.
O'Brien: I've double-checked every system. For the first time in a month, there's nothing wrong with any of them. It's got to be Q. Another one of his stupid jokes.
Sisko: I'm not laughing.
Vash: I figured we'd auction this off last.
Quark: Interesting, but hardly of any intrinsic value.
Vash: Really? I thought it was the best piece in the collection.
Quark: Obviously my associates have more sophisticated tastes than what you're used to. But just so it's not a total loss, I'll take it off your hands for, say, seven bars of gold-press latinum.
Vash: It's worth fifty times as much.
Quark: Ridiculous! All right, eighteen, but you must swear never to tell a soul about my foolish generosity.
Vash: If you want it you're going to have to be a lot more foolish than that.
Quark: All right, thirty. Now give it to me.
Vash: Bidding starts at two hundred bars of gold latinum.
Quark: I can't decided what's more intoxicating, this Gamzian wine or your negotiating skills.
Sisko: We need to talk.
Quark: The lady and I are having a private conversation.
Sisko: It can wait.
Vash: Tell me, Commander, where is that Doctor of yours? He was supposed to meet me here half an hour ago
Sisko: Tell me about Q.
Q: I'll tell you anything you want to know, Commander. Just answer one question. Is Starfleet penalizing you or did you actually request such a dismal command.
Sisko: I want you off this station.
Q: Don't be hasty, my happy-go-lucky friend. This dreary little gulag could use a little color, some excitement. And who better to provide it than moi? Though I must say I approve of your new tailor.
Sisko: I'm not impressed by your parlor tricks. These power outages are going to stop right now.
Q: Why tell me? Oh, yes, of course, go ahead. Blame Q if it makes you feel any better. I suppose it's my fate to be the galaxy's whipping boy. Heavy is the burden of being me.
Sisko: If you're looking for sympathy, you've come to the wrong place.
Q: Actually, what I was hoping for was a little witty repartee, but I see I'm not going to get any of that either. At least your beloved Jean-Luc knows how to turn a phrase
Vash: Take a hint, Q. No one wants you around.
Q: Really, Vash, this playing hard to get is growing tedious. Let's not forget that I'm the Q and you the lowly human. I will decide when this partnership is over. Understand?
Sisko: Why don't you and I continue this discussion in private?
Q: Excellent idea.
Q: You're right. This is an excellent idea.
Sisko: Sisko to Ops.
Q: All gone.
Sisko: Bring them back, Q, now!
Q: Or what? You'll thrash me? Shall we settle this mano a mano?
Q: Marquis of Queensberry Rules?
Sisko: What?
Q: Fisticuffs, pugilism, the manly art of self-defense. Come on. Isn't this all wonderfully barbaric? Go on, take a poke at me. I know that's really what you want to do. Come on.
Quark: I'll wager five bars of latinum on Sisko.
Vash: You're on.
Q: Fight back. This is supposed to be brutal.
Quark: You can pay me out of your profits from the auction.
Q: You hit me Picard never hit me.
Sisko: I'm not Picard.
Q: Indeed not. You're much easier to provoke. How fortunate for me.
Odo: Not again.
O'Brien: Damn it, Q. Enough is enough.
Dax: We're losing atmosphere.
Sisko: Decompression protocol. Mister O'Brien, raise the confinement shields.
O'Brien: Shields up.
Sisko: Damage report.
Kira: We've got a minor hull breach in one of the upper bulkheads.
O'Brien: I'm getting reports of hull fractures throughout the station. Emergency systems appear to be functioning. Repair crews are responding.
Dax: The breach was caused by some kind of focused graviton pulse.
Sisko: Every time we've had a power drain, it's been followed by an increase in the graviton field. If this continues, we could wind up with a breach in one of our reactor cores. We'd lose half the station.
Dax: Maybe it's time we opened negotiations with Q.
Sisko: I'm not convinced Q is behind this. Playing with the lights and punching holes in the hull doesn't strike me as his style.
Quark: You wanted to see me? Make it quick. I have important business.
Odo: Yes, I know. You're auctioning off some artifacts from the Gamma Quadrant.
Quark: You were eavesdropping on my conversation with Vash. What were you this time? The table? One of the chairs? The wine bottle.
Odo: When are you going to realize that you have no secrets from me?
Quark: I have nothing to hide. I'm selling quality merchandise to a select clientele.
Odo: And what makes them so select?
Quark: They're all ridiculously wealthy and not too bright.
Odo: I'll never understand this obsession with accumulating material wealth. You spend your entire life plotting and scheming to acquire more and more possessions, until your living areas are bursting with useless junk. Then you die, your relatives sell everything and start the cycle all over again.
Quark: Isn't there anything you desire?
Odo: I have my work. What more do I need?
Quark: A suit of the finest Andorian silk? A ring of pure Surax? A complete set of Tanesh pottery? How about a latinum plated bucket to sleep in?
Q: Well, I'm glad to see you've packed. I hope you said goodbye to all your new-found friends.
Vash: I don't have time for this.
Q: You've led a charmed life these past two years under my benevolent protection.
Vash: I can take care of myself.
Q: Really? Do you remember that tiny little insect bite you had on Erabus Prime? If I hadn't been there
Vash: I am not going with you.
Q: The galaxy can be a dangerous place when you're on your own.
Vash: It's over, Q.
Q: I leave you now to reconsider my offer of friendship.
Sisko: Captain's log, stardate 46531.2. The station's power is continuing to be drained and converted into gravitons. At this rate, our life support systems will fail in fourteen hours.
O'Brien: Sir, we'll never find the source of the power drain using these bloody Cardassian internal sensors. They're just not sensitive enough.
Dax: What if we make the power drain easier to detect? If we flood the station with ionized tridium gas, we should be able to trace the particle flow to the source.
O'Brien: Tridium? Isn't that pretty toxic.
Dax: Only when it's highly concentrated. We'd only use a very small amount.
Sisko: Do it. Unless we get this under control in the next eight hours, we'll begin evacuation procedures.
Q: Still chasing your own tail? Picard and his lackeys would have solved all this techno-babble hours ago. No wonder you're not commanding a starship.
Kira: Security to Ops.
Q: Well, aren't we the feisty little go-getter. I'd keep my eye on this one. Chances are, she's after your job.
O'Brien: Why don't you do something constructive for a change? Like torment the Cardassians.
Q: Do I know you?
O'Brien: O'Brien. From the Enterprise.
Q: Enterprise. oh yes. Weren't you one of the little people? Quite a motley crew you've assembled here, Benji. My advice to you is to evacuate now and save all this pointless guesswork.
Sisko: Q, either you tell us what's going on or get the hell out of the way.
Q: I'll tell you what's going on. While you're here conducting futile experiments, Vash is below engaging in base commerce and setting Federation ethics back two hundred years. Believe me, gang, she's far more dangerous to you than I.
Quark: Kolos, my friend. I don't know which pleases me more, your smiling face or your overflowing purse.
Kolos: Quark, you obsequious toad, your so-called Gamma Quadrant merchandise had better be legitimate or I'll toss you out the nearest airlock.
Quark: No cause for alarm. Each piece comes complete with a statement of authenticity from Vash, the Federation's foremost expert on the Gamma Quadrant.
Kolos: In that case, stop sniveling and give me a synthale.
Vash: Are they all that pleasant?
Quark: I don't care about their manners. The important thing is, they're honest collectors of antiquities, every one.
Vash: How honest?
Quark: As honest as you and I.
Vash: Then we'd better keep a close eye on them.
Quark: My dear, I've been thinking. What would you say to a permanent partnership? What with your knowledge of the Gamma Quadrant, and my business connections, we could make a fortune.
Vash: Sorry, Quark, but I've slept in my last tent. I'm looking forward to a nice quiet life back on Earth.
Quark: You won't last a month. You're like me. You live for excitement, adventure and profit.
Vash: Not anymore.
Quark: Would you care to make a wager on that?
Dax: The graviton field has increased by sixty percent.
Sisko: How soon can you begin the sensor sweep?
Dax: Not until we've increased tridium levels to one part per million. It should only be another seven, eight minutes.
Kira: Commander, we're being pulled out of our normal position.
Sisko: Use control thrusters to stabilize the station.
Kira: Firing thrusters. We're still moving.
O'Brien: If the graviton field is feeding off the station's power, maybe we can cut its supply by shutting down the reactors.
Sisko: Put life support on emergency backup. Take everything else offline.
Kira: We're still moving out of position.
Sisko: What's our heading?
Dax: Bearing one five seven, mark one three.
Kira: Straight into the wormhole.
Quark: Now, as you know, payment must be in gold pressed latinum, and all transactions are final. Remember, bid high and bid often.
Vash: Ladies and gentlemen, our first item is a statue from the Gamma Quadrant's Verath System. Now, I suppose I take a minute to tell you a little bit about the Verathan civilisation, which reached its height some thirty thousand years ago and spanned over two dozen systems, interconnected by a highly developed trade and communications network. This statue represents Drohlak, the Prime Ossemite of the nineteenth dynasty.
Quark: Vash, what are you doing?
Vash: I'm placing the statue in its historical context.
Quark: Here, give me that. This isn't the Daystrom Institute. Watch closely. Friends, it's rare, it's beautiful, and it's a Gamma Quadrant original. And it can be yours for the right price. Bidding will start at ten bars of gold pressed latinum. Make it ten. Fifteen? Sixteen? Who'll say seventeen and be the first to own a piece of the Gamma Quadrant?
O'Brien: Tridium levels throughout the station have reached one part per million.
Dax: Initiating sensor sweep.
O'Brien: We can rule out the docking ring.
Dax: The tridium gas seems to be draining toward the central core.
Sisko: Where in the central core?
O'Brien: Let me see if I can get a more precise reading. It's not clear enough. I can't pinpoint an exact location.
Kira: Based on our current trajectory, we'll hit the wormhole in eighteen minutes.
Sisko: What the hell could be pulling us into the wormhole? Do we have time to transfer auxiliary power to the deflectors, Chief?
O'Brien: Sir, there's not enough power left to make any difference. If we get sucked into that wormhole, we'll be in a billion pieces by the time we reach the Gamma Quadrant.
Quark: Sold to Kolos for thirty-six bars of gold pressed latinum. Next we have a dagger, studded with some very interesting looking gems. Think of it as a weapon and an investment. Bidding will start at forty. Forty. Forty two. Forty five. Don't hold back. You know you want it. Give me fifty. Fifty. We have fifty.
Q: I hate to interrupt such a thrilling display of naked avarice, but I thought it was only right of me to warn you that this station is hurtling toward its doom, and it's very unlikely any of you will survive to enjoy your purchases. I just thought I'd mention it. Please, carry on.
Quark: Ladies and gentlemen, I assure you, everything is under control. Drinks for everyone. And free use of the holosuites at the conclusion of the auction. And
Vash: I don't think I realized until this moment how evil you really are. You'd kill all these people to get even with me.
Q: I must admit, the thought had occurred to me, but this station is in enough trouble without me. Although I'd be glad to save you. All you have to do is ask. VASH I'll take my chances with the others.
Q: As you choose. I'm going to just right here sit here and watch. I've never seen a space station torn apart by a wormhole before.
Quark: Sold to my cousin Stol for a hundred and five bars of gold pressed latinum.
Kira: What if we pump more tridium gas into the central core? The sensors might be more accurate with the greater concentration.
O'Brien: It might work, but in four years we'll all be dead from tridium poisoning.
Dax: Wait a minute. Of course. Bring the reactors back online
O'Brien: The reactors? But they'll just feed more energy to the graviton field.
Dax: If we generate enough energy, it should create a power drain big enough to trace.
Kira: It might also push us faster into the wormhole. A lot faster.
Sisko: It's a chance we've got to take. Bring us to full power, Mister O'Brien. Everything you've got.
O'Brien: Aye, sir.
Quark: Sold to Rul the Obscure for a hundred and fifty one latinum bars. And now, our final item. And I think you'll agree with me it was well worth the wait.
Quark: Bidding will start at two hundred bars of gold pressed latinum. Two hundred. Can I get two fifty? Two fifty. Three hundred anyone? Three hundred bars of gold pressed latinum. Three hundred and fifty?
Voice: Here.
Quark: Four hundred? Four hundred. Five? Five hundred and twenty?
Quark: Six hundred bars of gold press latinum.
Dax: It's not in any of the crossover bridges or the habitat ring. It's in the upper core.
Kira: Three minutes, fourteen seconds to the wormhole. We're picking up speed.
Dax: I've got it. The power drain's coming from the Promenade.
Sisko: Chief, you have Ops.
Kolos: Twenty-five hundred.
Q: Twenty-five hundred and one.
Dax: This way.
Kolos: Three thousand bars of latinum. My final offer.
Quark: Three thousand bars.
Q: A million.
Quark: A million bars of gold press latinum?
Dax: Over here.
Quark: A million Going once.
Kira: It's by the podium.
Quark: A million going twice.
Dax: That's it.
Quark: Three times.
Sisko: This auction's over.
Quark: Sold.
Sisko: Chief, shut down the reactors. We've found it.
Q: And it's about time, too.
Quark: Sorry, all transactions are final. This item now belongs to that gentleman over there.
Dax: I'm reading a massive graviton build up inside this container. It's increasing exponentially. We have got to get it off the station now.
Sisko: Chief, lock on to my combadge. Prepare to transport it five hundred meters off the docking ring.
Quark: But I haven't been paid!
Sisko: Energize.
Sisko: Captain's log, stardate 46532.3. With the embryonic lifeform off the station, graviton levels have returned to normal. We've used the control thrusters to return the station to its original position.
Quark: So, you're off to the Daystrom Institute. Bet you can hardly wait. Long, boring lectures, endless conferences, whining students dogging your every step. Sounds delightful. Of course. No, you wouldn't be interested.
Vash: In what?
Quark: I hear they've uncovered the ruins of a Rokai provincial capital on Tartaras Five. If you could obtain some Rokain artifacts
Vash: Forget it, Quark. I'm going back to Earth.
Quark: Have it your way.
Q: An abysmal place.
Vash: Tartaras Five?
Q: Earth. Oh, don't get me wrong. A thousand years ago it had character. Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, Watergate. But now it's just mind-numbingly dull.
Vash: Well then by all means, don't come with me.
Q: I think you'd be much happier poking about the ruins of Tartaras Five.
Vash: I don't need your advice. You really think I
Q: You know, I still feel that I owe you a million bars of gold pressed latinum.
Vash: Keep it. Just give me back my life.
Q: You'll regret it if I do.
Vash: I'm willing to take my chances.
Q: All right. If you insist. But it's not going to be the same without you. When I look at a gas nebula, all I see is a cloud of dust. Seeing the universe through your eyes, I was able to experience wonder. I'm going to miss that.
Vash: Well, I guess in some ways I'm going to miss you too.
Q: Maybe I could drop in sometime.
Vash: Oh, God, I hope not.
Vash: Hey Quark, What's the quickest way to Tartaras Five?
Bashir: I feel as though I've been sleep for days. What? Did I miss something?


Scene: Station log. stardate 46910.1. Chief O'Brien has escorted his wife back to Earth to celebrate her mother's hundredth birthday. In the meantime, the rest of us are trying to keep the station up and running.
Bashir: It's almost as though the re-filtration processors were waiting for Chief O'Brien to leave before breaking down.
Dax: The technology looks like something the Cardassians must have taken from the Romulans. Is that an RCL type one matrix field?
Bashir: Perhaps we ought to call in a Romulan repair service.
Dax: Or an RCL type two?
Bashir: Another raktajino?
Dax: It'll keep me up all night.
Bashir: I can think of better ways of keeping you up. And they're more fun than drinking Klingon coffee
Dax: Definitely type one.
Peers: Dax.
Dax: I really should be getting to bed.
Bashir: May I escort you to your quarters?
Dax: That's not necessary, Julian.
Bashir: Oh, well, good night then.
Bashir: Not necessary, Julian. But not forbidden, either.
Tandro: Dax.
Dax: Yes?
Tandro: You are Dax.
Dax: What do you want?
Bashir: Dax!
Sisko: Yes, Major.
Kira: I'm just not sure, Commander. What does it look like to you?
Sisko: It looks like a residual charge in the graviton generator. If that's what it is, it'll bleed off. Let's run a quick level three diagnostic, just to be sure.
Bashir: Bashir to Ops.
Kira: Ops.
Bashir: Three people
Bashir: I think they just took Jadzia.
Bashir: She tried to struggle with them, and I tried to help
Sisko: Full station security alert. Secure all turbolifts, seal off airlocks for levels four through twelve. Computer, locate Lieutenant Dax.
Computer: Lieutenant Dax is on level six, corridor one.
Bashir: No, that's where I am.
Bashir: They just left her comm. badge.
Odo: How long ago, Doctor?
Bashir: Oh, not sure, really.
Dax: What are you doing?
Tandro: We turn right at the next corridor. Come on.
Odo: They're managing to avoid the security tracking grid. They seem to know a lot about the station.
Kira: Then they may know the speed of our runabouts. If they do, they probably have a faster ship to make their escape.
Sisko: Major, survey all ships in dock with a high warp capability. Damn!
Odo: What?
Sisko: That's why we've got a residual charge in the graviton generator. They've disabled the tractor beam.
Kira: We've got eight ships in dock capable of warp five or more. Three on docking pylons, five smaller ones in the ports.
Sisko: Seal off all docking ring airlocks.
Odo: Security. All duty squads to the docking ring. Commence immediate inward sweep, levels sixteen through twenty one.
Kira: I've got them. Airlock five.
Odo: I'm on my way. Security report to airlock corridor five. We have a hostage situation.
Kira: Isolating with cadderon force fields.
Dax: Will you just tell me what you want?
Tandro: Move.
Kira: Force field is down. They know the security override codes. They're boarding a ship.
Sisko: I'm trying to speed up the bleed-off process in the graviton generator.
Kira: We lost them.
Sisko: It's working. I'm increasing the flow to the EPS wave guides.
Kira: The excess charge is neutralizing.
Sisko: Engage tractor beam.
Kira: Gotcha.
Sisko: Bring it in to docking port six, Major.
Odo: Slowly. Extremities where I can see them.
Tandro: You're the Chief of Security?
Odo: Are you all right?
Tandro: My name is Ilon Tandro, special envoy from Klaestron Four in charge of this extradition procedure.
Sisko: Extradition? I call this kidnapping and assault.
Tandro: You'll find that to be a valid warrant for her arrest. The relevant treaty between Klaestron Four and your Federation allows for unilateral extradition.
Sisko: And the charge?
Tandro: The fugitive Dax is charged with treason and the murder of my father.
Odo: The warrant says Dax was responsible for the death of General Ardelon Tandro thirty years ago.
Sisko: Thirty years ago? That would've been Curzon Dax.
Odo: when he was on Klaestron Four as a Federation mediator during their civil war.
Sisko: He never mentioned he'd even been to Klaestron Four. Strange.
Odo: Not so strange considering these charges.
Sisko: Odo, let me tell you something. Curzon Dax tended to be a little cavalier about life, even about his personal responsibilities from time to time. I think that was part of the reason I liked him so much. He had more faults than the usual socially acceptable Trill. He was not a murderer.
Odo: How about a traitor? It says Dax betrayed the Klaestron government to the rebels.
Sisko: It's all nonsense, Constable. I'm telling you, I knew the man.
Odo: But did you know the symbiont inside the man?
Dax: Come in.
Sisko: I've sent a subspace message to Klaestron Four requesting confirmation of the warrant. That's the only stall I could think of. Now, what the hell's going on, Dax? Dax, if I'm going to help you, you've got to help me.
Dax: I don't expect any help, Benjamin. Thank you, though.
Sisko: Are you crazy? Treason and murder. On Klaestron Four, either of those gets you the death penalty. What's the matter with you? Talk to me before I have to let these people take you.
Dax: No. I'm sorry, Benjamin, but no.
Sisko: We've got eighteen, twenty years of friendship behind us.
Dax: I'm Jadzia Dax now. That was Curzon Dax you knew for twenty years.
Sisko: So when the Dax part of you survived from one host to the next, it really didn't take our friendship along.
Dax: Benjamin, you know you're still my very dear friend. I'm sorry.
Tandro: You've received your confirmation, Commander. Now we'd like to be on our way with the prisoner.
Sisko: You know, Mister Tandro, I kept wondering why you tried to kidnap Lieutenant Dax, rather than just present your warrant to me in the proper way. I couldn't figure that out at first.
Tandro: I trust you have figured out, Commander, that our extradition treaty with your Federation is current and valid.
Sisko: This station is technically Bajoran.
Tandro: What does that mean to us?
Sisko: You don't have an extradition treaty with Bajor. I think that's why you tried to abduct Lieutenant Dax. You were afraid the Bajorans would refuse extradition.
Tandro: That's absurd. No Bajoran interests are even involved here.
Kira: How did you know your way around the station so well?
Tandro: My conversation is with the Commander.
Sisko: No, your conversation is with my First Officer now.
Kira: You Klaestrons are allies of the Cardassians. Your knowledge of this station confirms that. They must have given you the layout, which not only compromises Bajoran security, but also annoys us.
Sisko: I'm afraid Bajoran interests are involved, and Bajor is adamant that. At least I believe it's adamant.
Kira: Oh, yes.
Sisko: You see. There will have to be an extradition hearing before I can lawfully release Lieutenant Dax.
Quark: For how long?
Odo: As long as it takes.
Quark: That could be for days!
Odo: There's nowhere else on the station that's suitable.
Quark: That's too bad. I'm not shutting down for any Bajoran hearing.
Odo: I'm sure Lieutenant Dax would appreciate it.
Quark: Business is business.
Odo: You know, that wall's going to have to come in about five meters.
Quark: What are you talking about?
Odo: Of course, after you move the wall that'll mean your second level holosuites'll have to come down.
Quark: Come down? Why?
Odo: New restrictions.
Quark: Restrictions?
Odo: Building codes. Since the provisional government took over, they've got their hands into everything and of course, I'm the one who's expected to enforce their rules here. You know, I think the bar is just a little too near the exit.
Quark: This is blackmail.
Odo: No, it's just business. And business is business.
Sisko: I was just coming to see you. We still haven't found a place for the hearing. Holding it on Bajor would involve Dax leaving the station and I don't want to risk that.
Odo: Well, now that's a coincidence. Our good friend Quark just donated the use of his facility for the hearing.
Sisko: Nice gesture.
Odo: I thought so.
Sisko: You know, I haven't been able to get a word out of Dax about any of this. So I thought someone might go do some investigating on Klaestron Four itself. What do you think?
Odo: This case has thirty years of dust covering it. The extradition hearing'll take about thirty minutes.
Sisko: I'm hoping to make it a little longer than that.
Odo: Good luck.
Renora: This will be an informal hearing, so I'm going to start with some informal advice. I am one hundred years old. I do not have time to squander listening to superfluous language. In short, I intend being here until supper, not senility. Understood?
Tandro: Understood, Madame Arbiter.
Renora: You seek the extradition. Make your case.
Tandro: The accused Trill, whatever its present appearance may be, was and is a Federation officer who committed capital crimes on our planet. Since there is no time limit on the prosecution of such crimes
Renora: Thank you, I've already read the warrant and charges. The crimes described are thirty years old. What took you so long?
Tandro: The evidence was contained in military files which were officially sealed until recently.
Renora: Fine. Sit. Commander, the warrant is in order. On what grounds do you ask that I deny extradition?
Sisko: You say the warrant's in order. But the name on the warrant is Dax. Certainly that doesn't refer to Jadzia Dax, a female, but to the now deceased Curzon Dax, a male. This young woman wasn't even born thirty years ago.
Tandro: You are arguing semantics. This creature is a Trill. The symbiont known as Dax has progressed from one host to the next.
Sisko: Exactly. From one host to the next. A different host, a different person. So I submit that the person he wants to extradite no longer exists, and I challenge him to prove otherwise.
Tandro: That's ridiculous.
Renora: It would have been easier on me, Commander, had you not raised that particular point. But the penalty for these crimes on your planet is death, and that is rather permanent. So before I grant extradition, you will convince me please, that the person named in your warrant is the person who is standing here now.
Kira: She doesn't seem to care whether she gets out of this or not.
Sisko: I care. Doctor, we've given the opposition access to our computers and station library, so let's utilize them ourselves. I want you to find all the medical evidence you can to support the theory that Jadzia Dax and Curzon Dax are two entirely separate people. Major
Bashir: Excuse me, sir. I don't know that there is any medical evidence on that.
Sisko: Assume there is, then find it. Major, I'm not asking you to be an attorney here, but if you could check the Federation computers for any precedents, legal decisions involving Trills.
Kira: Is a Trill responsible for the conduct, for the acts of it's antecedent selves.
Sisko: Right. That kind of thing.
Kira: What if I find the answer's yes?
Sisko: Then that answer is wrong. From this minute on, our answer is no. But if you do find a wrong answer, I want to see it. I can't fight what I don't know about.
Crewman: Commander Sisko, there's a subspace communication from Odo on Klaestron Four.
Sisko: We only have a few hours, people.
Sisko: Constable What've you got for us?
Odo: Well, I know two things so far. Whoever did murder that General Ardelon Tandro, it got his troops so mad they went out and won their civil war. They made the General a national hero. There are statues of him all over the place. Second, everyone that's old enough to remember says the General and Curzon Dax were the closest of friends. Comrades, inseparable.
Sisko: Now that sounds like the Curzon Dax I knew.
Odo: But treason, plus the murder of his own best friend? Strange business. If those charges are true, I'd want to hang Curzon Dax up by his heels myself.
Sisko: Thanks for the confidence.
Odo: Don't worry, I'll do my job. The General left a widow. If the two men were that close, she has to remember something about Curzon Dax that's not in the record. You'll hear from me.
Enina: Curzon Dax was not responsible for the death of my husband.
Odo: You're certain of that?
Enina: Without a doubt.
Odo: But your own son
Enina: My son is obsessed with the death of a father he never knew. Ohm I tried to persuade him not to reopen the case. He wouldn't listen to anyone, least of all to me. You have to understand. Curzon Dax was closer to the General than other any man on this planet. He was a dear friend to this family. Curzon would have died himself sooner than conspire against my husband.
Odo: Is that a personal opinion or are there any facts that would support this.
Enina: The only facts I know are in my son's hands and he intends to use them against Dax.
Odo: It might help my people to know what they are.
Enina: There is proof of a secret transmission that was made from out military headquarters to the enemy camp. It identifies exactly the route my husband was taking on his way back from the capital to the front. It was at that time that he was ambushed and kidnapped. A short time later, he was killed.
Odo: Then your son must believe that Dax made the transmission.
Enina: There were only five people including my husband who knew that route. My son has established the whereabouts of all of them at the time of the transmission. All of them, except Curzon.
Odo: So Dax has no alibi.
Enina: That cannot possibly be enough to convict him, can it?
Odo: I don't know. Thank you. You've been helpful.
Enina: How is he?
Odo: Ma'am?
Enina: Curzon Dax.
Odo: He's gone. The Dax your son is trying to extradite is Jadzia Dax, a twenty eight year old woman. Curzon Dax died two years ago. Jadzia is the new host.
Enina: What? I'm sorry. I didn't know.
Tandro: Madame Arbiter, I call on the expert knowledge of another Trill, Selin Peers. Minister Peers, we're fortunate to have you with us.
Renora: Excuse me. It also seems rather convenient to have you with us. How do you come here?
Peers: Because another Trill is involved, the Trillian government requested that I be present during the extradition.
Renora: And do you know the accused personally?
Peers: I do not.
Renora: We accept you as an expert on Trills. Proceed.
Tandro: Minister, through how many hosts have you survived?
Peers: The symbiont within me has survived through the adult lifetimes of seven hosts.
Tandro: Do you remember your very first host?
Peers: Of course. It was a woman, as a matter of fact.
Tandro: Do you remember what you thought and felt when you were joined with your first host?
Peers: Yes. The symbiont does carry memories of times shared with previous hosts.
Tandro: So if a crime is committed by a Trill, then the symbiont's next host would remain aware of it, would recall that crime?
Peers: Yes, absolutely.
Tandro: Would recall the details of it.
Peers: Yes, absolutely.
Tandro: And would still feel the guilt of it.
Peers: Oh, yes.
Sisko: Madame Arbiter, this is not a trial and Mister Tandro is not the prosecutor.
Renora: Mister Tandro, you have made your point.
Tandro: I don't believe that I have, Madame Arbiter. The real point is that Commander Sisko would have you endorse his idea of a perfect Trill crime. To commit it, all one has to do is elude capture long enough to change hosts, and then he or she can go free.
Sisko: Minister Peers, you said you were with your first host throughout her adult life.
Peers: Yes.
Sisko: So, before a symbiont is joined with any host, that host has already lived a significant portion of his or her life from birth to what age, sir?
Peers: Early to mid-twenties.
Sisko: Why not younger?
Peers: To give the prospective host the chance to develop, mature. They have to be old enough to make an informed judgment as to whether or not they really want to be joined.
Sisko: And once they are joined, this host's personality is completely suppressed by the symbiont?
Peers: Oh, no. No, it's a joining. It's a total sharing, a blending, of both host and symbiont. Neither is suppressed by the other.
Sisko: So with each new host there does come in fact, a new personality, a new combined person. A different person.
Peers: From that standpoint, yes.
Sisko: Well I for one don't know from what other standpoint we could be talking about. Thank you, Minister.
Tandro: Just to return us to what's important here, Madame Arbiter, the accused can remember any crimes she committed as Curzon Dax and nothing can be truthfully asserted in this hearing that can alter that fact.
Sisko: Yes, the memories were passed to an entirely new host, to an entirely different person.
Tandro: This is outrageous. You can't let Dax get away with murder.
Renora: Gentlemen, I said this would be an informal hearing, not riotous. We will take a two hour recess.
Renora: The answer seems simple enough to me. Split her down the middle. Send the symbiont back to stand trial and keep the host here.
Bashir: I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that.
Renora: Oh, what a surprise. Please enlighten me.
Bashir: The symbiont and the host are biologically interdependent. Ninety three hours after they've joined, neither can survive without the other.
Renora: I see. Proceed, Commander.
Sisko: Doctor, you've heard the arguments. From a medical viewpoint, are Curzon Dax and Jadzia Dax the same person.
Bashir: Certainly not. Aside from the gender change, there's a marked difference in blood types, metabolisms, nervous system, height, weight.
Tandro: This is not at all relevant.
Bashir: What is relevant, sir, is my analysis of the brain waves of Curzon and Jadzia Dax.
Sisko: Madame Arbiter.
Bashir: As you can see, they are distinctly different, which clearly illustrates that Curzon and Jadzia are two unique individuals.
Sisko: Thank you, Doctor.
Tandro: Doctor, I've looked through your research myself. It's quite impressive for such a young man.
Bashir: Thank you.
Tandro: As a layman, there are obviously things I don't fully understand.
Bashir: I'd be happy to explain anything you wish.
Tandro: Yes? Well, exactly how does the Trill brain work?
Bashir: It's quite complicated, actually. First of all, there are two cerebral nuclei.
Tandro: Two?
Bashir: One in the symbiont and one in the host.
Tandro: Two brains. And these two brains talk to each other?
Bashir: Like two computers linked together.
Tandro: That's very clear, Doctor. Thank you. Now, in your investigations, were you able to analyze the separate wave patterns from each of these brains?
Bashir: They don't function separately.
Tandro: I didn't ask you how they function, Doctor Bashir. I asked if you could analyze the two distinct patterns.
Bashir: I just don't see the relevance of
Tandro: Could you?
Bashir: Yes.
Tandro: And have the brainwave patterns of the symbiont changed since it joined with its new host?
Bashir: With the available evidence, there's no way of telling.
Tandro: What's your best guess?
Bashir: I wouldn't care to guess.
Tandro: In fact, is there evidence of any change at all in the symbiont since it joined with this new host? Yes or no.
Bashir: No.
Tandro: Thank you, Doctor Bashir. You've been very helpful.
Renora: Any more witnesses, Commander Sisko?
Sisko: Yes, Madame Arbiter. I'd like to call the one person in this courtroom who knew Curzon Dax. Me.
Renora: You know where the witness stand is.
Sisko: With your permission, I'd like Major Kira will direct the questions.
Kira: Tell us a little about Curzon Dax, Commander.
Sisko: He probably wasn't the ideal Trill. He drank a little too much. He could be more interested in women than maybe he should've been.
Kira: I thought he was your friend.
Sisko: I'm simply pointing out that he was not at all like the young woman in this courtroom.
Kira: What was, exactly, your relationship with Curzon Dax?
Sisko: He took a raw young Ensign under his wing and taught me to appreciate life in ways I'd never thought about before. He taught me about art and science and diplomacy. Whatever sense of honor I might have today, he nurtured. Treason, murder. He was not capable of those things.
Tandro: As you've already said, Commander, this is not a trial.
Sisko: I'm describing my friend, Curzon Dax. A man I knew very well. On the other hand, I can't tell you too much about my new friend there. We're really just getting to know each other.
Tandro: Commander, Starfleet officers do have the reputation of being honorable and I judge you to be an honorable man. As an honorable man, do you think this crime should go unpunished?
Sisko: I prefer no crime to go unpunished.
Tandro: Then, if it were possible, even you would not argue with punishing the symbiont part of Dax.
Sisko: How can you be so sure that the symbiont was the criminal influence? What if it were the Curzon host that was responsible? Then the surviving symbiont would be completely innocent.
Tandro: No. They'd both be guilty. You yourself have argued that the two personalities, once joined, function as one. Your own Doctor Bashir confirmed it. When you put salt in water, the two become indistinguishable and inseparable.
Sisko: I think you've just made my point for me. When the water boils off, the salt returns to its original state. Pour that same salt into another liquid, and you have something completely different. Jadzia Dax is an entirely new entity.
Renora: Following a one hour recess, Lieutenant Dax will take the witness chair. One hour.
Sisko: If you won't defend yourself, you're not going to testify.
Kira: It's a hearing, not a trial. She has no choice.
Kira: Odo's on subspace. It's urgent.
Odo: I've made some progress.
Sisko: Good.
Odo: Not good. Since the transmission to the enemy is the key evidence, I thought it might be a good idea to go through all the communications logs from headquarters during that period. I even found Curzon Dax's records.
Sisko: You can't tell me Curzon would log in a communiqué to the enemy.
Odo: No. Nothing like that. But the log shows a number of conversations between Dax's office and General Tandro's home.
Sisko: They were close friends.
Odo: A number of the conversations took place when the General was away at the front.
Sisko: The wife?
Odo: The wife.
Sisko: Curzon Dax and Enina Tandro.
Odo: Maybe it was innocent. Maybe he was just providing a little emotional support during tough times. Or maybe they were taking advantage of the General's absence to get a little closer. If they were having an affair, that translates into a pretty solid motive for murder.
Odo: The conversations were just the beginning. I've also found records of gifts, of holidays spent at an inn outside the capital.
Enina: What purpose does this serve?
Odo: It serves the truth.
Enina: The truth.
Odo: If there's more to this than meets the eye, I hope you'll explain, because as it stands, this will severely hurt Dax's defense.
Enina: My husband was not the hero in life that he was in death, Mister Odo. In death he became a legend, and I became a legend's wife. There are people who did not even know my husband who still contact me. Decades after his death, they still mourn him.
Odo: But you don't.
Enina: No, because I knew the man before he became a legend. But I also knew my place in history. My place is to carry on bravely, never to remarry, to represent my husband at the banquets given in his name. But never, never to talk about who he really was, because nobody wants to hear that.
Odo: They may have to hear it now.
Enina: No matter what is said, they will still embrace his memory, for he was and will always be, the hero who died for his people. But perhaps it's time for my place in history to change.
Sisko: You've been protecting her reputation. That's it, isn't it? That's why you won't even defend yourself. There are worse things than an illicit love affair. Curzon didn't murder anybody. He didn't commit treason. Are you really willing to commit suicide over something done in another lifetime? That is what you're doing, you know. My God, Dax. Young Tandro, that wouldn't be your son?
Dax: You have an overactive imagination, Benjamin.
Sisko: Then what is it that's holding you back? Help me. Damn it, if you were still a man.
Dax: I see your temper hasn't improved.
Sisko: Don't talk to me about my temper.
Dax: Curzon always warned you about it.
Sisko: You're not going to get me off track here.
Dax: Do you remember that Argosian lieutenant who threw a drink in your face?
Sisko: And you knocked me down with a right cross before I could kill him. I still have a little scar here from your ring finger.
Dax: I tried on that ring on after Curzon died. It just slipped off my finger.
Sisko: If you don't help me, old man, they're going to take you because I don't know any more arguments.
Dax: Then allow it to happen.
Sisko: It is my an obligation to protect the lives of those in my command. You ought to know that. You taught it to me.
Dax: That was Curzon.
Sisko: I'll stop trying to protect you the minute you tell me Curzon was guilty of these charges.
Dax: I won't discuss it with you. As for Enina Tandro, yes, I feel the shame of Curzon's indiskretions. When one of my kind stumbles, Benjamin, it is a mistake that's there forever. I can't tell you which part of Curzon Dax couldn't stop himself from acting shamefully with another man's wife. I can tell you that he did love her, for whatever that's worth.
Sisko: Enough to kill her husband?
Dax: So you are questioning?
Sisko: What else can I do?
Dax: Nothing, Benjamin. Nothing at all.
Renora: Lieutenant Dax, you're either two hundred years older than I am or you're about the same age as my great granddaughter. At first I wondered which of those you were. Now I am bothered by the likelihood that you may be both. Let's finish this, Commander.
Sisko: At what age did the host, Jadzia, first want to be joined as a Trill?
Dax: I wanted it since I was a child. I worked very hard for it.
Sisko: The competition to become a Trill is very strong, then, among potential hosts.
Dax: Yes. It's considered a great honor.
Sisko: How did young Jadzia finally become a host candidate?
Dax: By winning scholarships, competing against other young people. You're tested in countless ways.
Sisko: Including psychological tests, to determine the strength of character of the prospective host. Is that true?
Dax: Yes.
Sisko: And the young Jadzia excelled in those tests of academics and character, of psychological stability.
Dax: Yes.
Sisko: If you can remember other things, remember that as well. What academic degrees do you hold, Lieutenant?
Dax: I hold Premier Distinctions in exobiology, zoology, astrophysics and exoarcheology.
Sisko: How many of those degrees did you earn before you being joined with the symbiont Dax?
Dax: All of them.
Sisko: All of them. As Jadzia. Alone. This brilliant and independent young woman has done nothing in her life but contribute to her society. Madame Arbiter, how can anyone justify trying her for a crime allegedly committed by another entity before she was even born?
Tandro: This will only take a minute. Lieutenant, as a Trill candidate, did Jadzia fully understand the responsibilities to be assumed upon becoming a Trill, and did you willingly accept those responsibilities, and whatever consequences they might entail?
Dax: Yes.
Tandro: And would that not obviously include the consequences of criminal acts committed by Curzon Dax?
Enina: May I speak?
Renora: And you are?
Enina: I am Enina Tandro, widow of General Ardelon Tandro. This hearing is unnecessary. The accusations are erroneous.
Tandro: Mother, what are you talking about?
Enina: Madame Arbiter, Curzon Dax is accused of sending a transmission to the enemy that betrayed my husband. But I know where Curzon was at the exact time that transmission was sent. He was in my bed.
Renora: Mister Tandro, you will want to re-examine your extradition request. Until then this hearing is adjourned.
Enina: You were kind to try and protect me. Someone you'd never even met.
Dax: There's much of Curzon that's still a part of me, that still remembers what you had together.
Enina: But it was Curzon Dax who swore himself to silence to preserve the memory of General Tandro. Not Jadzia.
Dax: I felt it was important to keep that promise. The General's memory is cherished by your people.
Enina: And it will continue to be. No one will ever know that he was the one who tried to betray us, and that the rebels killed him for the favor. As for you, there is one favor I would ask.
Dax: Of course.
Enina: Live, Jadzia Dax. Live a long, fresh and wonderful life.


Kira: I've never seen anything like that.
Bashir: Hmm?
Kira: I've never seen anything like that.
Bashir: The woman?
Kira: She was dead. The tricorder clearly showed
Bashir: Ah yes, well, tricorders. Very accurate with live people, not so accurate with dead ones. We learn that first year medical school.
Kira: Well, I was very impressed, Doctor.
Bashir: And well you should have been. I impressed myself on this one actually. I can't imagine what other doctor would even consider examining the scapular nodes for parasitic infection. I just seem to have a talent, I suppose. A vision that sees past the obvious, around the mundane, right to the target. Fate has granted me a gift, Major. A gift to be a healer.
Kira: I feel privileged to be in your presence.
Bashir: Glad to have you along.
Kira: Did anyone ever tell you that you're
Computer: Priority one broad band distress signal.
Kajada: Kobliad transport Reyab to any ship. Our central power linkage exploded. We're losing life support. Please respond.
Bashir: Just picking it up on long range sensors. Bearing three four seven mark zero eight.
Kira: I'm reading massive energy leakage. Its aft structural integrity field is failing. This is the Federation Ship Rio Grande. We're on our way.
Bashir: O-2 pressure dropping rapidly. Toxic gas levels are rising. We've got no more than ten minutes breathing time left in here.
Kira: Automatic fire suppression must be offline. I'll check the central power linkage.
Bashir: Relax. I'm a doctor.
Kajada: What happened?
Bashir: You lost consciousness. Now listen, is there anyone else aboard your ship? We've got to evacuate it.
Kajada: The pilot is dead.
Bashir: I'm reading another lifeform.
Kajada: No. Don't open that.
Bashir: It's sealed.
Kajada: The prisoner I was transporting, he started the fire to escape.
Bashir: He's dying. Where's the manual override?
Kajada: No. Stop! Don't!
Kajada: Wait. Don't go in there. He's dangerous.
Bashir: I assure you, in this condition, he's of no threat to anyone.
Kira: Power linkages are completely shot. Maneuvering subsystems are out. I've managed to stabilize the structural integrity field, but I don't know how long it's going to last. We'll have to tow it in.
Bashir: His synaptic fields are dissipating. I can't get a neural reading. I have to get him to the emergency unit on the runabout.
Kira: Computer, four to transport.
Vantika: Make me live.
Bashir: This one I can't bring back.
Kajada: Where am I?
Bashir: You're on Station DS Nine. I'm Doctor Julian Bashir.
Kajada: Ty Kajada, Kobliad Security. DS Nine? But that's where he was going. Where is he? Where is Vantika?
Bashir: Your prisoner? He's dead.
Kajada: You're certain.
Bashir: Yes. You were the only survivor.
Kajada: Where's his body?
Bashir: I have it in stasis.
Kajada: I want to see it.
Bashir: When you're feeling stronger
Kajada: Now!
Bashir: Preliminary examinations indicated the subject died of a massive respiratory failure, brought on by the pulmonary trauma suffered during the fire.
Kajada: Are you sure it's the same body?
Bashir: Quite certain. It's been sealed in here ever since our arrival.
Kajada: Have you run a retinal imaging scan?
Bashir: What for?
Kajada: To confirm that there is no residual activity in the visual cortex.
Bashir: Miss Kajada, I assure you he is dead.
Kajada: He's faked his death more times than I can tell you. And the last time someone thought he was dead, they didn't live to regret the mistake.
Bashir: He was a murderer?
Kajada: That description doesn't do justice to the horrors he's responsible for on my world. He's quite brilliant in his way. A man of science who killed others to prolong his own life. I've tracked him for twenty years.
Kajada: Please perform an autopsy. I want his identity confirmed with a DNA reference scan.
Bashir: Of course.
Kajada: And have someone scan my ship. I want to make sure there are no anomalous life forms on board.
Bashir: Are you sure that's necessary?
Kajada: Very sure.
Quark: Iced raktajino, extra cream.
Dax: Thank you, Quark.
Quark: At your service, day or night.
Dax: Thanks.
Quark: Poor woman. She's obviously infatuated with me.
Odo: You're deluding yourself.
Quark: There's nothing wrong with a good delusion. I sell them upstairs to dozens of people every day. Besides, there is something in her eyes when she looks at me.
Odo: An allergic reaction, no doubt.
Quark: I think she's lonely.
Odo: Dax? She has ten lifetimes worth of friends to call on before she calls you. And every man on the station would like to be buying her a raktajino.
Quark: Ah, but I'm the one with the raktajino machine.
Odo: She seems to prefer spending most of her time alone, which I understand perfectly.
Quark: Then that must make her the perfect woman for you.
Odo: I wouldn't intrude on her privacy, as some would.
Quark: You're pathetic. You think everyone in the galaxy should be as lonely and as miserable as you are. As hard as it may be for you to understand, some of us like company. The sound of a friendly voice. The sight of a familiar face. The feel of smooth, pliant flesh.
Odo: Why do you bother?
Quark: It's good to want things.
Odo: Even things you can't have?
Quark: Especially things I can't have.
Odo: Like the deuridium shipment?
Quark: Deuridium shipment? Is there a deuridium shipment coming here?
Odo: I'm watching you, Quark.
Quark: And I'm watching you, Jadzia.
Primmin: Interesting technique. Do you always get ready for an important operation by leaking word about it to the local black market?
Odo: How I handle my business is none of your concern.
Primmin: I'm afraid it is. Lieutenant George Primmin. Starfleet security, and if you don't mind, I would like to talk to you about the deuridium shipment from the Gamma Quadrant.
Odo: There's nothing to discuss. Security is already in place.
Primmin: I would appreciate it if we could go over it anyhow. It took me three weeks to get here and I'd hate to think it was for nothing.
Odo: If you insist. Meet me in my office at seventeen hundred hours.
Bashir: The autopsy revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Fingerprints, cerebral cortex scans, retinal patterns all matched up perfectly with the records Kajada provided. Vantika may have faked his death before, but I don't think he's faking this time.
Sisko: Why was he coming here?
Bashir: They're Kobliad.
Dax: The deuridium.
Kira: I'm sorry?
Sisko: The Kobliad are a dying race. They need deuridium to stabilize their cell structure. It prolongs their lifespan.
Dax: The Federation's been working to supply them with deuridium, but even the new deposits from the Gamma Quadrant aren't enough to service the whole population. It's so scarce that some of the Kobliad have gone underground to get it.
Kira: So he was coming here to hijack a shipment?
Dax: Exactly.
Sisko: Is Kajada satisfied with your autopsy?
Bashir: I don't think anything's going to convince her he's dead, Commander.
Dax: Vantika has been the focus of Kajada's attention for most of her adult life. In a way, they were as intimately connected as any two beings could be.
Sisko: Let's do her the courtesy of granting her requests as long as they're not too far out of line. A quick sweep of her ship is not too much to ask. I'm more concerned that Vantika might have had help here waiting to hijack the shipment. Ah, Mister Primmin. Good. In my office. I want to brief you on a security issue that's arisen.
Kira: I'll get Odo up here.
Primmin: Ah, that's okay, Major. I'll fill him in later on anything he needs to know.
Sisko: How are you getting on with the Constable, Lieutenant?
Primmin: I'm sure he's very good at keeping order down there on the Promenade.
Sisko: But
Primmin: Frankly, isn't the security of a deuridium shipment a little over his head? I mean, he was chatting about it in the bar with that Ferengi, Quark. If I could overhear it, so could half-dozen others.
Sisko: It's hard to keep a secret in a place like this, Lieutenant. It's not a starship.
Primmin: I understand that.
Sisko: I'm sure almost everyone knows about the shipment by now. Odo was probably making sure Quark knows we know he knows.
Primmin: It's not they way they taught us at the Academy, is it, sir. If you want my opinion
Sisko: Actually, I don't. You and I are guests of the Bajorans, Lieutenant. You don't have to forget what you learned at the Academy, you just don't throw it in anyone's face here. If you're really smart, you might even learn a few new things about station security from our Constable. Clear?
Primmin: Very clear, sir.
Sisko: Now, regarding the shipment. We've been made aware of a possible Kobliad plot to hijack the deuridium. You and Odo ought to have a talk with Kajada, the Kobliad security officer who arrived yesterday
Primmin: Before we get started, I want to apologize for us getting off on the wrong foot.
Odo: Think nothing of it.
Primmin: Listen, I know this is your bailiwick. I don't mean to be throwing my weight around. No hard feelings?
Odo: None at all.
Primmin: Just because I'm from Starfleet Security doesn't mean I don't respect your opinion. How about showing me what you've got and I'll see if there's anything we can work with.
Odo: Lieutenant, you're welcome to see my plans, but I assure you I've taken every precaution regarding the shipment. However, if you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them. What? Odo to Ops.
Kira: Go ahead.
Odo: Major, are we having some
Odo: Sort of computer problem?
Kira: Everything in active memory has been accessed and purged.
Odo: That's impossible.
Kajada: Oh, it's possible. Vantika did the exact same thing on Rigel Seven.
Kajada: I know Vantika. I've learned to think as he thinks.
Bashir: Kajada, our best evidence suggests Vantika stopped thinking two days ago.
Kajada: He's alive. And he's on board this station. And his first thought when he came on board was to plan a way to access your security files on the deuridium shipment, which is exactly what he's done.
Primmin: Even if he was alive, it doesn't make sense that he would purge an entire computer memory to go after a single file.
Odo: It makes perfect sense. Try to access the single file and you'd be stopped by a dozen different lock outs that I put in to protect it.
Kajada: But you would never consider locking out the active memory of your entire system.
Kira: It would make it impossible to use the computers at all.
Kajada: So that's where you're vulnerable.
Dax: But how would he gain access?
Kajada: In the past, he's used a subspace shunt. It would be attached to a secondary system, something that runs through the entire facility but isn't covered by security.
Kira: The lighting controls, or the replicators.
Dax: I'm showing an unauthorized tap into the computer system. A temperature control panel, Level twenty one, section ten. ODO +
Primmin: Security to
Odo: To L twenty one, S ten. We're looking for a subspace crossover link to the computer system.
Security: Acknowledged.
Kajada: Tell them to be careful. Vantika undoubtedly equipped the shunt with an auto-destruct system.
Kira: You know that for certain without having to check?
Kajada: I know Vantika.
Sisko: Miss Kajada, I must admit I'm having a tough time with your theory.
Kajada: Then you're making a fatal mistake.
Sisko: Three passengers were on your ship. Two bodies are in our morgue. Unless the ghost of Vantika is
Kajada: Don't patronize me, Commander!
Sisko: Isn't it more likely that some accomplice did this?
Kajada: Rao Vantika is obsessed with his own survival. He's prolonged his life with the use of drugs, cryogenics, transplants. As a medical supervisor in a high security penitentiary, he used prisoners for his illegal experiments in cellular longevity. He's organized raids on government labs to steal bio-regenerative research. I promise you when he started that fire on board my ship, he had a plan to survive. I'm not sure what that plan was, but I'm convinced it succeeded.
Sisko: Doctor, how soon before we get the results of the DNA trace?
Bashir: I sent it to Starfleet Command yesterday. They'll have to coordinate with Kobliad security. I'd say another twelve hours.
Sisko: Until then, we will operate under the assumption that Vantika is alive.
Odo: Commander, may I have a word with you?
Sisko: What's on your mind?
Odo: My resignation.
Sisko: You're overreacting.
Odo: Oh, so you already know about this.
Sisko: Yes, Lieutenant Primmin mentioned to me
Odo: You asked me to stay in charge of security when you took command of this station. I did not ask you.
Sisko: Constable, no one knows this station like you do.
Odo: Yes, I've noticed that. Constable. Very cute.
Sisko: It's an expression of affection. I believe Major Kira was the first to
Odo: I don't need anyone's affection. I do need clear jurisdiction or I am out.
Sisko: I like you, Odo. I like to know where a man stands. There's never been any question of that with you. I need you here. No Starfleet officer can do the job you do.
Odo: You've got that straight.
Sisko: But you have to realize that Starfleet is not going to take command of a station in deep space without assigning some security to protect its interests.
Odo: Understandable.
Sisko: You're going to have to work with Primmin. The two of you have to find a way to get along.
Odo: Tell him that.
Sisko: I already have.
Odo: Who's in charge?
Sisko: In joint operations like this one, you are.
Odo: I can live with that arrangement.
Sisko: What have you got, Dax?
Dax: I'm not exactly sure yet. I finished the sweep of Kajada's ship. No anomalous readings, but I did notice one odd thing.
Sisko: What's that?
Dax: Somebody tried to break into the ship's cargo bay.
Sisko: Since it's been docked?
Dax: Kira confirmed that there was no damage to the cargo area when they brought it in.
Sisko: What do you think they were after?
Dax: This, maybe. I found it in Vantika's personal belongings.
Sisko: What is it?
Dax: A map of the humanoid brain.
Quark: You call this clean? I've already found three coins on the floor up here. Who knows what else there might be? Somebody may have lost some valuable jewellry or something. Fine, never mind. I'll do it myself and I'll keep it myself. Leave!
Quark: You just can't find good help any more.
Vantika: Have you made the preparations?
Quark: Preparations? What preparations?
Vantika: The deuridium shipment. You were to hire mercenaries to help me.
Quark: Help you? But. You can't be Vantika.
Vantika: I told you to expect me at this hour.
Quark: Yes, and I contacted some very reliable soldiers of fortune in anticipation of your arrival. I was told you were dead.
Vantika: Almost, but not quite.
Kajada: You wanted to see me?
Bashir: Kajada. I'll be right with you. There. Now remember, next time lift with your back straight and use the anti-gravity generator. I'm sorry. Come in. I have the DNA scan results. I thought you might want to see them. In fact, I tried to call you last night, but you never responded to the comm.
Kajada: I have trouble sleeping. Last night was particularly bad I used an alpha wave inducer to help me.
Bashir: You should be careful with those. They're only meant for occasional use.
Kajada: The scan results, Doctor.
Bashir: Oh, yes. There wasn't even a trace of diploid variation. It's definitely not a clone. Positive identification, Rao Vantika.
Kajada: They must have overlooked something.
Dax: Dax to Bashir.
Bashir: Yes, Jadzia.
Dax: I need some medical advice. Can you come to my lab?
Bashir: I'll be right there.
Bashir: Bashir out. Every conceivable test has been done, Kajada.
Dax: Here's the hypothesis. The body dies, the consciousness lives on.
Bashir: In another brain?
Dax: Possible?
Bashir: The closest thing I've encountered is synaptic pattern displacement. But that's never been done by a non-Vulcan.
Dax: I'm convinced Vantika was working on it. There are over seventy different computer simulations in his file. All involve identifying neural energy patterns and storing them in different areas of the brain.
Bashir: There's plenty of room. A humanoid uses only a small portion of the brain.
Dax: What if another entity shared the unused portion?
Bashir: Hypothetically, Vantika's consciousness could be occupying someone else's brain while he waits for the deuridium to arrive. But whose? Kajada?
Dax: They're both Kobliad. What better place to hide than in the mind of your worst enemy?
Sisko: It doesn't make sense. She's been doing everything she can to convince us that Vantika is alive. If Vantika's controlling her, why would he call attention to himself?
Dax: We're not suggesting he's controlling her.
Bashir: This is all theoretical, but to extend the logic, there's no reason to believe she'd even be aware of his presence.
Dax: Like a stowaway on a ship. The pilot's at the helm, but someone else is along for the ride.
Sisko: Would an examination of Kajada confirm any of this?
Bashir: We don't know what we're looking for yet. We still have to identify a method of transfer first.
Odo: I could assign some personnel to maintain continuous surveillance on Kajada.
Primmin: We're already stretched to the limit preparing for the shipment. Why don't I just set up the computer to track her movements and alert us if she goes near a secured area.
Odo: At the very least, she has to be left out of our security plans.
Bashir: She won't like that.
Sisko: I'm afraid we have no choice.
Dax: What do we tell her?
Odo: Nothing. She'll figure it out. When she does, send her to me.
Kajada: The computer security codes have been changed. I've been denied access. Why?
Odo: Because I ordered it.
Kajada: What kind of fool are you?
Odo: My own special variety.
Kajada: I'm the only one here who has experience with Vantika.
Odo: I'm sorry. I believe it's necessary at this point to limit access to the security files to four people. Myself, Lieutenant Primmin, Major Kira and Commander Sisko.
Kajada: When is the shipment scheduled to arrive?
Odo: I can't give you that information.
Kajada: What about this Ferengi, Quark?
Odo: What about him?
Kajada: From what I understand, he has his hands into everything around here. Is he under surveillance?
Odo: I always keep an eye on him.
Kajada: I hope so. Because he's exactly the kind that Vantika would use in his plans.
Quark: Everything's been taken care of.
Durg: That's what you said about Vener Seven.
Quark: You should thank me for Vener Seven. You got paid, didn't you?
Durg: We almost got killed.
Quark: A normal risk in your line of work.
Durg: It's a normal risk when we work for you, that's for certain. So, when do we meet this Kobliad?
Quark: When he decides it's appropriate.
Durg: All right then, a better question. When do we get paid?
Quark: When the job is completed of course.
Durg: Not acceptable. We'll require an advance payment of seventy percent.
Quark: Durg, wake up. This is Quark you're talking to, remember.
Durg: All past debts have been settled.
Quark: They'll never be settled. You'd still be rotting in a Cardassian jail if I hadn't
Bashir: Can you speak?
Kajada: Pushed. Vantika.
Bashir: I can't keep her conscious any longer, Commander. If she moves too much, she could suffer permanent paralysis.
Sisko: Did you see anybody behind her?
Quark: I just heard the scream and looked up. she fell from the balcony. What was she doing up there anyway?
Odo: She had an odd feeling you might be helping someone hijack this deuridium shipment.
Quark: I resent the inference.
Odo: It's not an inference. It's a definite suspicion.
Sisko: Was anyone else in the bar?
Quark: Anyone else?
Sisko: At the time of the accident.
Quark: No, just me. Just tidying up, which if you'll excuse me, I really must finish.
Odo: Not so fast, Quark. I want to take a look at that third floor before you get rid of all the evidence.
Quark: Be my guest, but I'm telling you she was alone up there. And she had no business invading the privacy of a law-abiding member of the community.
Sisko: What do you think, Doctor? Could this have been a suicide attempt?
Bashir: I haven't noticed any indication of suicidal behavior, but then, who knows what the effect of sharing one's brain might be?
Sisko: I'd still like some confirmation of that.
Bashir: I'll have to tend to her injuries before I conduct any brain scans, but until we find the transfer method Vantika used, I'm not even sure what to look for.
Sisko: Computer, location of Lieutenant Dax.
Computer: Lieutenant Dax is in the stasis room.
Sisko: Find something under his fingernails?
Dax: Not yet.
Sisko: What are you looking for?
Dax: Confirmation of a theory, I hope. I've been asking myself, why would anyone induct a bioelectrical charge into a glial cell?
Sisko: A question I have always wondered about.
Dax: Well, it might make sense if you wanted to send a bio-coded message along the glial cells of someone's nervous system all the way to the brain. My guess is that's what Vantika was trying to do.
Sisko: Using his fingernails?
Dax: Frankly, I can't think of another way he could have delivered the bio-coded message. He must have used a very weak electrical charge, or the sensors on Kajada's ship would have detected it. Ideally, he would have injected the coded message directly into his victim's skin but there were no hyposprays or needles anywhere on the ship.
Dax: A microscopic generator.
Sisko: You're suggesting stored his consciousness in that thing?
Dax: His neural patterns encoded as bioelectrical pulses. He could have placed that device under his nail months ago, just in case he needed an escape route in an emergency. His last resort before death.
Sisko: Will this show up in Kajada?
Dax: Now that we know what we're looking for, we should be able to confirm it with a glial scan.
Sisko: Do it as soon as Bashir stabilizes her. Nice work.
Kira: Confirm that each distribution amplifier is at one hundred percent efficiency. If there's more than a point-zero three percent fall off, replace it. And that won't mean a thing if any of the power waveguide outlets fail. Double-check them.
Odo: You'd better make this the last check. We've only got an hour. Where's Primmin?
Kira: I thought he was with you.
Odo: I sent him to help you make the final security sweep of the docking area.
Kira: He has not been here all morning.
Quark: I won't be going with you. I'm simply a middleman, a facilitator.
Durg: A profit monger.
Quark: And proud of it.
Durg: How did you get your hands on a Federation runabout, Quark?
Quark: I can't take credit for that. Your employer has somehow managed to arrange security access.
Durg: When do we meet this employer?
Quark: His message said he'd be waiting for us on board.
Quark: Oh, er, er, I'm terribly sorry. We seem to have made a wrong turn. We didn't mean to disturb you, Doctor.
Bashir: Not at all, gentlemen. I've been expecting you.
Dax: Julian? Computer, location of Doctor Bashir.
Computer: Doctor Bashir is in the Infirmary.
Odo: What the hell are you doing in there? I told you to sweep the docking bay again.
Primmin: I took a cue from you.
Odo: From me?
Primmin: You understood the logic of Vantika's MO when he downloaded the computer memory. Avoid the single file, attack the system.
Odo: I'm not following.
Primmin: Vantika has to know that all of our security efforts will be focused on the docking ring.
Odo: And?
Primmin: I figured if he holds true to form that's not where he'll try to hurt us. So I ran a diagnostic of all the systems that could shut our whole defense array down.
Odo: I already did that twice today.
Primmin: I know. I didn't find anything either. But then I went to the back-up systems and I found a glitch there I couldn't explain. And I tracked it back to the waste reclamation system where no body would ever think to look because it's considered non-essential. And I found this.
Odo: Another subspace crossover shunt, just like the one Vantika used when he tapped into the computer.
Primmin: And it's set to feed back into the primary command and control functions.
Odo: This would have shut us down for close to an hour.
Primmin: Long enough for him to grab that freighter and warp to who knows where.
Sisko: Yes, Major?
Kira: The Norkova's just come through the wormhole, requesting permission to dock.
Sisko: Let's go to security alert yellow. What bay do you have assigned in the plan?
Kira: Number eight.
Sisko: Odo, maintain a visible contingent of security at bay eight but I'm sending the Norkova to the second back-up. Bay twelve.
Primmin: I'll send additional forces to twelve.
Odo: Commander, your Lieutenant Primmin there just saved us all a lot of problems. Another subspace crossover that would have crippled us long enough for them to escape with your deuridium.
Kira: Odo, did you deploy a runabout to escort the Norkova?
Odo: No.
Kira: How come the Rio Grande's going out to meet it.
Sisko: On screen.
Dax: Benjamin, Julian's missing.
Sisko: Missing?
Dax: His comm. badge was in the Infirmary. I can't find him anywhere.
Sisko: Computer, who authorized access to Runabout Rio Grande?
Computer: Authorisation access code four one two one. Doctor Julian Bashir.
Durg: It's safe.
Bashir: Shields up.
Durg: Done.
Bashir: Secure the rest of the ship. Be sure to account for all twelve members of the crew. If they resist, kill them. Enter the new course.
Durg: Aye. The station has locked a tractor beam on us.
Bashir: But that's not possible. They should be shut down by now.
Durg: Well, they're not. They're hailing us.
Bashir: Hailing us? Engage engines, full impulse.
Durg: We're not going anywhere with a tractor beam on us.
Bashir: Do it!
Durg: Full impulse engaged. The tractor beam is holding.
Bashir: But they won't be able to pull us in.
Durg: We can't just sit here and wait. What do you intend to do?
Bashir: Open a channel.
Sisko: I'm Benjamin Sisko, Commander of DS Nine.
Bashir: Rao Vantika is my name. But I assume you know that already.
Sisko: I want to speak to Doctor Bashir.
Bashir: Unfortunately, he's not available at the moment.
Sisko: Is he all right?
Bashir: His body is, how do you humans say it? Fit as a fiddle. Looks rather good on me, don't you think?
Sisko: What have you done to his mind, Vantika?
Bashir: It was necessary to render him unconscious for the time being. However, I might consider leaving his body and returning him to you. But first you must release your tractor beam.
Sisko: I can't do that.
Bashir: If you don't, I'll take this vessel to warp.
Sisko: The tractor beam would rip apart your ship, and you and everyone on board would be killed.
Bashir: Exactly. So if you care at all about the welfare of your Doctor, you will release your hold on us. You have one minute to decide.
Sisko: Can we get a transporter lock on him?
Primmin: Negative. Their shields are up.
Sisko: Suggestions?
Kira: A small ship like a runabout might be able to get close enough to overload their shield generators with directed phaser fire. We used to do it to Cardassian freighters all the time.
Odo: But you'd be risking a hull breach and with all the deuridium on board
Sisko: He's right. We can't risk releasing deuridium into the system. Every populated area would have to be evacuated. Dax, is there any way to disrupt Vantika's control over Bashir?
Dax: I have an exact model of Vantika's neural energy patterns. If I can design an electromagnetic pulse to disrupt those patterns, Julian might emerge. We still need a way to get it there.
Sisko: Could we run it right along the tractor beam at the same frequency as their shields?
Dax: The pulse would resonate off the shields and create a reflected EM field inside the ship.
Kira: He's hailing us.
Dax: I need some time.
Sisko: I'll give you as much as I can. On screen.
Bashir: Have you decided?
Sisko: If I permit you to leave, what guarantee do I have that you'll return Doctor Bashir?
Bashir: Oh, you're far too ready to capitulate, Commander. Would you be planning a rescue attempt, perhaps?
Sisko: I'm only interested in the safety of my doctor.
Bashir: You insult my intelligence. Prepare to go to warp
Sisko: You've gone to great lengths to survive, Vantika. I don't think you're ready to kill yourself.
Bashir: And I don't think you are ready to risk spreading deuridium all over this system.
Bashir: Ready to engage warp engines.
Durg: You must be crazy! I want no part of this.
Bashir: No more middlemen, Sisko. No more delays. What's it to be?
Sisko: All right. We're prepared to release the tractor beam. Dax.
Dax: Ready.
Sisko: Do it.
Sisko: Doctor Bashir! Answer me! Bashir!
Bashir: Yes? What?
Sisko: Doctor. Lower the shields.
Bashir: What? What shields? Where am I?
Sisko: I'll explain later. Lower the shields now!
Odo: The shields are down.
Sisko: Get him out of there.
Primmin: Energizing.
Bashir: It's okay. It's me.
Dax: I've programd this transporter to isolate any glial cells with Vantika's neural patterns and to beam them from Julian into this micro-containment field. Once they're out he should be back to normal.
Dax: I'm only reading human neural patterns. He's clear.
Bashir: I have the worst headache.
Kajada: Doctor Bashir I'm so sorry for all of this.
Bashir: I suppose we should have listened to you when you said he was alive.
Kajada: There was no way for you to control what he was doing to you.
Bashir: I'm afraid I don't remember it. Actually, I feel quite humiliated.
Sisko: No one blames you, Doctor.
Kajada: It wasn't you. It was that.
Dax: What do you intend to do with it?
Kajada: May I assume that you've returned custody of the prisoner to me, Commander Sisko?
Sisko: The prisoner? What's left of him.
Kajada: Good.