Scene: Station log, Stardate 46729.1. The Bajoran government has asked me to mediate a disagreement between two rival factions, the Paqu and the Navot. At issue is a land dispute which could trigger a civil war.
Kira: Commander, the Paqu delegation has arrived at docking port six.
Sisko: Let's welcome them aboard. Dax, any word on the Navot?
Dax: They should be here within the hour.
O'Brien: Excuse me, Commander.
Sisko: Chief, I thought you'd be on your way to Bajor by now.
O'Brien: We're due to leave any moment. But, sir, I was wondering if perhaps Ensign Boyer might replace me on this particular mission. After all, I'd be little more than a chauffeur, and Boyer can pilot a runabout just as well as I can.
Sisko: Has something come up that requires your presence on the station, Chief?
O'Brien: Oh, no, sir. Everything's running smoothly for a change. But around here, you never know.
Bashir: Ah, Chief, there you are. All set to go?
O'Brien: Yes, sir.
Bashir: Commander, did the Magistrate give any indication regarding the nature of this medical emergency?
Sisko: Only that his village was in danger of extinction.
Bashir: In that case we'd better be on our way.
Sisko: I agree.
O'Brien: Yes, sir.
Sisko: Docking port six.
Bashir: You know, Chief, in a way I'm really looking forward to this mission.
O'Brien: Why's that?
Bashir: I see it as a wonderful opportunity for us to get to know each other.
O'Brien: Ah.
Sisko: I'd like you to set a preliminary meeting with both sides for later this afternoon. Make sure they know that this is an informal session. I just want to get them talking to each other.
Kira: Just getting them to sit down at the same table will be an accomplishment. Sir, about these negotiations.
Sisko: You have some advice for me?
Kira: There's an old saying on Bajor. The land and the people are one. Well, the land inhabited by the Paqu and Navot is some of the harshest on the planet.
Sisko: Relax, Major. This is not my first time up at the plate.
Kira: Sir?
Sisko: Besides, I'll have you by my side to help me avoid making mistakes.
Sisko: Tell me what you know about the Paqu Tetrarch.
Kira: Not much. The Paqu choose to avoid contact with outsiders.
Varis: Commander Sisko?
Sisko: Yes?
Varis: I am Varis Sul, Tetrarch of the Paqu.
Bashir: Chief, may I ask you a question?
O'Brien: Of course.
Bashir: And I'd like an honest answer.
O'Brien: You'll get one.
Bashir: Do I annoy you?
O'Brien: Annoy me? What sort of a question's that?
Bashir: Well, the thing is, we've just spent two hours alone together in this runabout and you hardly said a word to me the whole time.
O'Brien: Really? I hadn't noticed.
Bashir: Oh, I see.
O'Brien: I suppose because I was too busy thinking.
Bashir: Thinking?
O'Brien: That's right.
Bashir: About what?
O'Brien: What?
Bashir: What were you thinking about? I'm just curious.
O'Brien: Let's see. I was thinking that when we get back to the station, I'll have to run a level one diagnostic on the phase coil generators. Satisfied?
Bashir: I suppose so.
O'Brien: Glad to hear it.
Bashir: I mean, the only reason I bring it up is because your opinion means a lot to me, and I'm aware I have a tendency to run off at the mouth sometimes.
O'Brien: Is that a fact.
Bashir: It's just a nervous habit. I hope you don't hold it against me.
O'Brien: Not at all, sir.
Bashir: And one more thing.
O'Brien: What's that, sir?
Bashir: I don't think it's really necessary to call me sir.
O'Brien: What should I call you? You're my superior officer.
Bashir: How about Julian?
O'Brien: Is that an order?
Bashir: Of course not. It's just that I'd simply prefer it if you called me by my first name.
O'Brien: All right. We've achieved stable orbit around Bajor. We can beam down any time. Julian.
Bashir: No sign of any airborne infections. The soil appears to be free of pollutants, and the ground water clear of bacterial contamination.
Faren: Gentlemen. I am Faren Kag, the village magistrate.
Bashir: I'm Doctor Bashir and this is Chief O'Brien.
Faren: This village is in great jeopardy. I only hope you're not too late.
Faren: Has he shown any sign of improvement?
Hovath: None.
Faren: You must help him.
Bashir: How many others are sick?
Faren: Others?
O'Brien: You said the entire village was in jeopardy.
Faren: It is. If he dies, we all die.
Woban: I'll say this for the Cardassians. Their replicators make a fine larish pie.
Varis: I didn't come here to eat, Commander.
Sisko: Then let's talk. The official negotiations don't begin until tonight, but I thought it might be a good idea that we meet informally to see where we all stand. According to the treaty that has existed between you for the past ninety years, the border separating the Paqu and the Navot shall forever be the river Glyrhond.
Woban: That's correct.
Kira: Well, at least we all agree on something.
Sisko: Now, as I understand it, during the occupation the Cardassians diverted the river for use in their mining operations. As a result the Glyrhond now flows twenty kilometers west of its former position.
Woban: Twenty kilometers into Navot territory.
Varis: That's Paqu territory now. You read the treaty, Commander. The river is our common border.
Woban: The treaty says nothing about stealing land. If your father was alive he would give us back what was ours.
Varis: My father would do no such thing. Besides, I'm Tetrarch now. I will not be pressured into betraying my people.
Quark: Let's see, two Bajoran synthales, a glass of Gamzian wine, and a Trixian bubble juice for the little lady.
Varis: I'm not a little lady.
Quark: I'm still charging her for that drink.
Jake: Nog, we've been sitting here over an hour. Let's go play some ball in the holosuite.
Nog: No.
Jake: Why not?
Nog: Because baseball is slow and boring.
Jake: And you can't hit my curve ball.
Nog: It's a stupid game that even humans stopped playing hundreds of years ago.
Jake: Maybe, but you still can't hit my curve ball.
Odo: Mister Sisko, Nog, I thought I told you no dangling over the Promenade.
Jake: We're not going to fall, Odo.
Nog: We can see things better from down here.
Odo: And what, may I ask, is so interesting?
Jake: Nothing.
Odo: In that case, you can see nothing just as well from up here. Now, on your feet. Thank you.
Jake: Are you going to come to the holosuite with me or not? Come on, we can have Buck Bokai hit a few out to us. He was the greatest hitter of all time. I'll even let you use my glove.
Nog: I have never seen anything so beautiful.
Jake: She's all right.
Nog: All right? I have to meet her.
Sirah: The Dal'Rok.
Bashir: Easy now. Try not to exert yourself.
Sirah: Hovath.
Hovath: I'm here.
Sirah: The time?
Hovath: It's still two hours before nightfall.
Sirah: You should have wakened me. Help me get dressed.
Bashir: I'm afraid you're in no shape to go anywhere.
Sirah: The Prophets sent you, didn't they.
Bashir: I beg your pardon?
Sirah: No, there's something wrong. It must be your companion.
Bashir: You mean Chief O'Brien?
Sirah: Bring him to me.
Bashir: Why?
Sirah: Because you are not the one I have been waiting for.
Bashir: Chief? He wants to see you.
Sirah: Come. Closer. I knew. I knew the Prophets would not fail us. You may leave now. Both of you.
Bashir: See that he stays in bed.
O'Brien: What was that all about?
Bashir: I haven't a clue.
Faren: The Sirah, how is he?
Bashir: I wish I had better news. He's suffering from systemic organ failure brought on by an accelerated rate of cellular decay. His body's surrendering to old age.
Faren: Is there anything you can do?
Bashir: I can keep him comfortable and relatively free of pain. Other than that, it's just a matter of time. I'm sorry.
Faren: But we need him. The Dal'Rok will be here soon.
O'Brien: What's the Dal'Rok?
Faren: It's a terrible creature that lives in the woods just north of the village. Every year at the end of harvest it appears.
Bashir: And you say it's coming here tonight?
Faren: Yes, it always comes for five nights. This will be the fourth. And only the Sirah is strong enough to defeat it.
Bashir: Right now, the Sirah isn't strong enough to get out of bed.
Faren: If what you say is true, this village will be destroyed tonight.
Jake: You're sure this is the place?
Nog: You saw the readout. There's only one female her age visiting the station, and these are her quarters. Well, go ahead.
Jake: What?
Nog: Ring the bell.
Jake: Me? You're the one who wants to meet her.
Nog: Are you afraid?
Jake: Of a girl?
Nog: Then ring.
Jake: You ring.
Nog: You are afraid.
Jake: No I'm not, you are.
Varis: What are you doing?
Nog: My name's Jog. I mean Jake.
Jake: He's Nog. I'm Jake Sisko.
Varis: Sisko.
Jake: We're kind of the unofficial welcoming committee around here.
Nog: That's right. Welcome to DS Nine.
Varis: Thank you. I'm Varis Sul.
Jake: Would you like a tour of the station? There's a Klingon freighter leaving for the Gamma Quadrant in a little while. We could watch it go through the wormhole.
Nog: Good idea.
Jake: Thanks. So, how about it? You want to go?
Varis: I've never seen the wormhole.
Nog: Then you're in luck, 'cos we know the best spot on the station for wormhole watching.
Jake: Unless you're busy or something.
Varis: Not at the moment.
Bashir: Listen to me, Sirah. You must return to bed. To be out here in your condition
Sirah: Your concern touches me, Doctor. But I am now in the hands of the Prophets.
Crowd: We believe in you, Sirah. Help us, Sirah. Save us, Sirah.
O'Brien: Strange. I'm not registering any atmospheric disturbance.
Sirah: The Dal'Rok wakes.
Crowd: The Dal'Rok. The Dal'Rok.
Sirah: But we are ready. In the shadow of the night, he hungers. With a hatred of the ancients, he rages. From the twisted pit of chaos, he approaches.
Bashir: Is it alive?
O'Brien: The tricorder's still not picking up anything.
Bashir: Could it be some kind of holographic image?
O'Brien: No, I'm not picking up any power source.
Sirah: The Dal'Rok's anger is like a wave crashing down on the village. The weight of its fury threatens to crush us all. The Dal'Rok thinks the village is powerless to defend itself.
Sirah: But the Dal'Rok is mistaken. The village is strong, much stronger than the Dal'Rok can ever imagine.
Crowd: We can do it. The village is strong. The village is strong.
Sirah: With our strength, our unity, we shall drive the Dal'Rok
O'Brien: Bloody hell.
Bashir: Chief, help us get him down from here.
Sirah: Where is my successor?
Hovath: Sirah.
Sirah: No, the one whom the prophets sent. Yes, you.
O'Brien: Wait a second. I think you've got the wrong guy.
Sirah: Say as I say. The village shall not be destroyed.
O'Brien: What?
Sirah: Quickly.
O'Brien: The village shall not be destroyed.
Sirah: Louder, so they can all hear.
O'Brien: The village shall not be destroyed!
Sirah: Despite our fears, we shall stand our ground and face the Dal'Rok.
O'Brien: Despite our fears, we stand our ground and face the Dal'Rok.
O'Brien: The village is strong.
Crowd: The village is strong.
O'Brien: More powerful than the Dal'Rok.
Crowd: More powerful than the Dal'Rok.
O'Brien: Together, we use that power to drive it away.
Crowd: Drive it away. Drive it away! Drive it away!
O'Brien: The Dal'Rok is defeated. The village is safe.
Bashir: He's dead.
Faren: The Sirah has left us, but the Prophets have sent us his successor. A new Sirah to tell the story. A new Sirah to protect the village.
Quark: So I sold them a whole herd of Klingon targs.
Quark: Major, what a pleasant surprise. I always look forward to one of your infrequent visits.
Kira: Spare me the small talk and get me a star drifter.
Quark: So, how are the negotiations coming along?
Kira: Better make it a double.
Quark: Ah.
Varis: You asked to see me?
Sisko: Please, sit down.
Varis: I just spent the last five hours sitting.
Sisko: Yes, five long, unproductive hours.
Varis: Woban is an obstinate fool.
Sisko: Woban is here to talk. What are you here for?
Varis: I would think that was obvious. To defend the interests of my people.
Sisko: How? By starting a war?
Varis: I object to your tone, Commander.
Sisko: Because if that's what you're here for, if you'd rather fight than talk, then we're just wasting our time.
Varis: That land belongs to the Paqu.
Sisko: The Navot don't agree.
Varis: Then they'd better be ready to die for it. I am. Or don't you believe me?
Sisko: I believe in people working together to find reasonable solutions to their problems. I hope you do as well.
Varis: What you hope is no concern of mine. Now, anything else you wish to say to me can be said tomorrow across a conference table.
Sisko: Varis, are you sure your people are as ready as you are to die for that land?
Nog: Where do you think she is?
Jake: I guess if she's not here, we'll try again at her quarters.
Nog: When we find her, let me do the talking.
Jake: She asks me questions, I answer them. What's wrong with that?
Nog: Just remember, I saw her first. She's mine.
Jake: Then, how come you can barely say two words to her without getting tongue tied?
Nog: That's a lie.
Jake: I've never seen you so nervous. You must really like her.
Nog: I never said that. All I said was
Nog: Oh, er, we were just
Jake: Looking for you.
Varis: I've been busy.
Jake: Is something wrong? You seem a little depressed.
Varis: It's nothing, really. It's just there are these people who want something I have and I refuse to give it to them.
Nog: How badly do they want it?
Varis: Very badly.
Nog: Is there anything they have that you want?
Varis: That I want?
Nog: Maybe this isn't a problem. Maybe it's an opportunity.
Varis: Maybe.
Jake: When I have a problem I can't figure out, I ask my dad.
Nog: I ask my dad, too.
Varis: It helps, doesn't it?
Jake: Yeah.
Nog: No.
Jake: My dad's a pretty smart guy.
Nog: Mine, too, in his own way.
Varis: My parents are dead. They were killed by the Cardassians.
Jake: I'm sorry. My mom was killed during an attack by the Borg. Isn't there someone you can talk to? Someone you trust?
Varis: I don't trust many people.
Jake: My dad says
Nog: Could we please talk about something besides your father?
Varis: You admire him very much, don't you?
Jake: I trust him.
Odo: Mister Sisko.
Nog: Odo.
Jake: We were just leaving.
Bashir: I wonder what was controlling those energy creatures.
O'Brien: One thing's certain, it wasn't me.
Bashir: Try telling the villagers that. They saw the Sirah choose you as his successor.
O'Brien: Well, he made a mistake.
Bashir: You saw how he greeted you when we arrived. It was as if he were expecting you. I'll tell you this, Chief. I'm glad you came along on this mission, because if it wasn't for you, I'd have done what I could for the Sirah and left. And look at what I would have missed.
O'Brien: I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Julian.
Bashir: Don't worry, Chief, I have faith in you.
O'Brien: Oh, do you?
Bashir: I mean, for all we know, you really were sent by the prophets.
O'Brien: I was sent by Commander Sisko. This Dal'Rok or whatever will be returning tonight and everybody's counting on me to be able to stop it. The only trouble is, I don't have the slightest idea how I'm supposed to do that.
Faren: These gifts are for you, Sirah.
O'Brien: Well, tell them I don't want them.
Bashir: Oh, bring them right in. Put them wherever you like.
O'Brien: Now look, Julian.
Bashir: We're visitors here, Chief. It would be impolite to refuse our hosts.
O'Brien: How can I help you, ladies?
Bashir: I think they're the ones offering services, Chief.
O'Brien: Now look, there's been a serious misunderstanding
Faren: Is there a problem, Sirah?
O'Brien: No! They're not. Well, yes, I mean, they're quite. Look, I have a wife and daughter back on DS Nine.
Faren: Of course.
Faren: You must send for them.
O'Brien: Why?
Faren: So they can live here with you.
O'Brien: You're missing the point. I'm not staying.
Faren: Then who will tell the story?
O'Brien: You'll just have to find someone else.
Faren: But there is no one else. The Sirah chose you.
Bashir: He made a mistake.
Faren: But what about the Dal'Rok? Without your protection, he will kill us all.
O'Brien: Faren, I would like to help, really I would, but I don't know how.
Faren: You must tell the story.
O'Brien: As simple as that, is it?
Faren: May the Prophets grant you victory, Sirah.
O'Brien: Let's hope so.
Bashir: Now what are we going to do?
O'Brien: The way I see it, the only way out of this mess is to find out exactly what this Dal'Rok is, and destroy it before it destroys us.
Sisko: Captain's log supplemental. We have completed a second day of talks between the Paqu and the Navot. So far, we're no closer to finding a solution than we were when the negotiations began.
Varis: Enter.
Jake: Hi, you want to do something?
Varis: Sorry, not right now.
Jake: Okay, we'll stop by later.
Nog: Is there anything we can do to cheer you up?
Varis: I don't think so.
Nog: You sure?
Jake: Let's go before you embarrass yourself.
Varis: Wait.
Nog: Yes?
Varis: Do you remember that opportunity we were discussing yesterday?
Nog: Yes.
Varis: How can you be sure that an opportunity is worth the risk?
Nog: Instinct. The ninth Rule of Acquisition clearly states opportunity plus instinct equals profit.
Varis: Instinct.
Jake: That's not going to help.
Varis: I think it does. Thank you, Nog.
Nog: Good. Let's celebrate.
Varis: Celebrate?
Nog: I took one of my uncle's security rods.
Jake: What are we going to do with that?
Nog: I don't know. We could swipe Odo's bucket.
Jake: Are you kidding?
Varis: A bucket?
Nog: Yeah. We'll give it back.
Jake: Yeah, but
Nog: It'll be funny.
Jake: But we can't just walk into Security.
Nog: Watch me.
Nog: Wait over there.
Varis: I still don't understand what's so funny about a bucket.
Jake: Odo lives in it. He's a shape shifter. Every sixteen hours he has to change back to his original form.
Varis: Inside a bucket?
Jake: He turns into some kind of liquid.
Jake: Maybe this isn't such a good idea.
Nog: Watch the front door. I'll be right back.
Varis: Jake, you're sure this is all right?
Jake: Well it's not like we're really stealing anything.
Nog: Found it.
Jake: Odo! Odo!
Nog: It's oatmeal. I filled it from the replicator.
Jake: Very funny.
Nog: You should have seen your face!
Odo: I believe that belongs to me.
Sisko: What's the rush?
O'Brien: There's some residual neutrino levels in the microstructure of these rocks.
Bashir: If the Dal'Rok has no physical substance, how can it leave a neutrino trace?
O'Brien: I didn't say it made sense. But this rock face didn't just spontaneously blow itself to pieces.
Bashir: Lucky for us, you were able to stop it before it did anymore damage.
O'Brien: All I did was repeat what the Sirah told me.
Bashir: In that case, how did the Sirah manage to stop it?
O'Brien: Good question. Maybe there's some a control mechanism hidden somewhere.
O'Brien: Excuse me, miss.
Woman: Please, Sirah, for my daughter.
O'Brien: What about her?
Bashir: I think actually she wants you to bless the child.
O'Brien: Me?
Woman: It would mean so much.
O'Brien: I'm sure she'll make you very proud.
Woman: Oh, thank you. Thank you.
O'Brien: You're quite welcome.
Man: There he is.
Bashir: Looks like more of your followers are requesting an audience.
O'Brien: Oh, no. This won't do. You continue looking around here. I'll go to check the Sirah's room.
Bashir: Please, please. I'm afraid the Sirah is busy at the moment. Perhaps I can be of service.
Crowd: Sirah, just a moment. Sirah, please come back.
O'Brien: Look, I could use some privacy.
Hovath: There are more gifts outside for you.
O'Brien: All right, bring them in. Hold on. Didn't you work for the Sirah?
Hovath: I was his apprentice.
O'Brien: Did he ever reveal any of his secrets? How he controlled the Dal'Rok, and that sort of thing?
Hovath: Why ask me? Surely the Sirah must have taught you all you need to know.
O'Brien: All right, have it your way. Don't blame me when that creature goes rampaging through your village.
Bashir: Chief!
O'Brien: Careful, don't hurt him.
Bashir: I'll try not to.
O'Brien: That's enough.
Bashir: Tell him that.
O'Brien: I said that's enough!
O'Brien: Now you mind explaining why you tried to kill me?
Hovath: You are not the true Sirah.
O'Brien: You won't get any argument from me.
Bashir: If he isn't, who is?
Hovath: I am.
Hovath: For nine years, I studied with the Sirah, learning the secrets of the storyteller, only to have you come along and take my place.
O'Brien: Look friend, as far as I'm concerned, the job's yours.
Bashir: But if you were supposed to take over, why come the Sirah chose him?
Hovath: It was his way of punishing me.
Bashir: Punishing you?
Hovath: Three nights ago, the Sirah allowed me to tell the story. But when the Dal'Rok appeared I was unable to control it. Several people were injured.
O'Brien: Control it? How?
Hovath: With this. The stone is said to be a fragment of an orb from the Celestial Temple.
Bashir: We had one of these orbs aboard our station. We're aware of how powerful they are.
Hovath: Many years ago, this village was deeply divided by hate and mistrust. The first Sirah knew that unless he could find a way to unite the people, the village would destroy itself. So he used the Orb fragment as a catalyst to give their fears a physical form.
O'Brien: So the villagers' thoughts create the Dal'Rok.
Hovath: Yes, but they don't know that. It's a secret which has passed from Sirah to Sirah.
O'Brien: Why do they need a storyteller?
Hovath: The story helps focus the villagers' thoughts.
Bashir: And that enables them to defeat the Dal'Rok by creating the shimmering lights.
Hovath: I know if I had another chance, I could control the Dal'Rok.
O'Brien: Well, son, it looks like tonight you are going to get that chance.
Faren: What is this? You have no right to wear those clothes.
Hovath: I have every right.
Faren: You had your chance to prove yourself. You failed.
Hovath: It won't happen again.
Faren: That's right, because you won't be allowed to endanger the village a second time. Now take off those robes.
O'Brien: Hold on.
Faren: Sirah, it's time you were getting ready. The people will be assembling soon to hear the story.
Varis: I want you to know, Commander, that I take complete responsibility for what happened in the Security office.
Sisko: I think that there's more than enough blame to spread around. Jake should have known better.
Varis: I'm afraid he and Nog were just trying to impress me.
Sisko: That's not much of an excuse.
Varis: Didn't you ever do anything foolish to impress a girl?
Sisko: I may have.
Varis: Jake's a nice boy. So's Nog, in his own way. I enjoy their company.
Sisko: I suppose you don't get much of a chance to be with people your age.
Varis: True, but that's not why I wanted to be with them. I wanted to learn about you.
Sisko: And?
Varis: Jake speaks very highly of you. He trusts you.
Sisko: That's always nice to hear.
Varis: Hearing Jake speak of you reminded me of how much I miss my own parents. My father was a great man. A great leader.
Sisko: I'm sure he'd be very proud of you.
Varis: I try to be strong, the way he was strong but. It's difficult.
Sisko: From what I've learned about your father, he wasn't afraid to compromise.
Varis: That's because he knew the Navot feared him. If I were to make concessions, Woban would think I was weak.
Sisko: I doubt he would be that foolish, but he is determined to get that land back.
Varis: I'm not afraid of Woban or the Navot.
Sisko: I never said you were. So your answer is still no.
Varis: You don't lose by saying no.
Sisko: Maybe. But a great leader like your father is one who's willing to risk saying yes.
Varis: Commander, I believe I know of an opportunity that could allow both sides to say yes.
Crowd: There he is. Sirah, you'll save us.
O'Brien: I thought you wanted this job.
Hovath: I do.
O'Brien: Then why don't you fight for it.
Hovath: No, Faren is right. These people will never accept me as Sirah. Without their support I could never control the Dal'Rok.
O'Brien: You think I can?
Hovath: You have to.
Bashir: Oh, Chief? Good luck.
Crowd: Tell the story.
O'Brien: Once upon a time, there was a Dal'Rok. And it lives there, in the woods, and he hated the village and all of the villagers and he wanted to see them destroyed.
O'Brien: Yes, the Dal'Rok is here, and it's hungry. But the village is prepared to fight, like it has always fought, with the lights, the shimmering lights.
Hovath: Something's wrong.
Bashir: What's wrong is O'Brien's not the Sirah. You are.
O'Brien: You know what I'm talking about. Come on, you can do it. The village is strong and unafraid and powerful, and ready to face the Dal'Rok.
Bashir: Do you think that maybe the Sirah planned all this? He knew the villagers had lost confidence in you, so he chose O'Brien as his successor, knowing that you would have to rescue him. Don't you see? This is your chance to prove once and for all that you are the true Sirah.
O'Brien: All right now, let's really focus and send this one out, okay? Let's really the Dal'Rok a message. Where the hell are those lights?
Hovath: Wait, there is no need to run. A new voice appears to challenge the Dal'Rok.
O'Brien: It's about time.
Hovath: The Dal'Rok is a fearsome enemy. The mountains tremble with its fury. But our prosperity is its misery. Our unity is its vulnerability. And our strength is its doom.
Hovath: Look, the Dal'Rok trembles. It fears our strength. It fears our determination. It knows it cannot stand against us because the village is united. We are as one.
Hovath: You see for yourselves the Dal'Rok is defeated. This village is safe for another year.
Faren: The Sirah! The Sirah!
O'Brien: Let's get out of here before they change their minds.
Sisko: Nervous?
Varis: Not at all. Maybe a little. Do you think Woban will accept my proposal?
Sisko: It's very possible. It would give the Navot back their land.
Varis: And free trade access to both sides of the river would mean a lot to my people.
Sisko: It's a reasonable compromise.
Jake: We thought we'd wish you luck with your meeting.
Varis: Thank you.
Varis: For all your help.
Odo: All right, let's go. You two are going to clean the Security office until it shines.
Bashir: You know, Chief, this is going to make a fantastic story to tell around the station.
O'Brien: Not for me. I've had my fill of storytelling for the time being.
Bashir: Well, I hope you won't mind if I mention it.
O'Brien: Suit yourself, Julian.
Bashir: Oh, and Chief, on second thoughts, you don't really have to call me Julian.
O'Brien: Right you are, sir.


Quark: I thought I told you to cancel that order. Now what am I supposed to do with five thousand wrappages of Cardassian yamok sauce. They're the only ones who could stomach that swill.
Jake: Hey, Nog, are you going to play, or what?
Quark: You ordered it, you're going to pay for it. I'm going to take half of your paycheck every week for the next six years. From now on, no more Cardassian food in here ever.
Jake: Come on, Nog, it's your turn.
Nog: Five thousand wrappages. That's a lot of yamok sauce.
Jake: Look, either take your turn, or I win.
Nog: It'd be a shame to let it to go to waste.
Jake: That's it. Game over.
Nog: Jake, I'm getting that tingle in the lobes. And when a lobe tingles, it means only one thing. Opportunity.
Jake: What are you talking about?
Nog: I'm talking about gold-pressed latinum. Maybe four or five bars.
Jake: I thought you were talking about yamok sauce.
Nog: You've got a lot to learn about opportunity. Come on.
Jake: Where?
Sisko: Captain's log. Stardate 46844.3. With the help of the Federation, Bajor is about to commence its first large-scale energy transfer, the tapping of the molten core of its fifth moon, Jeraddo.
Dax: Magma pressures remain constant.
O'Brien: Differential subsurface movement is at zero point three percent.
Toran: Is that good?
Kira: They'd tell you if it weren't.
Toran: Why is that red light blinking?
O'Brien: We're in normal standby mode.
Toran: I take it, then, that we're not expecting any surprises.
Sisko: We don't like surprises any more than you do.
Kira: Minister Toran, these people are professionals.
Toran: Forgive my bureaucratic nitpicking, Major, but we're counting on Jeraddo's energy to heat a few hundred thousand Bajoran homes this winter.
Kira: And with that in mind, we're due to make our next inspection.
Dax: Anyway, so there I was, sitting in Quark's, when Morn just comes over and invites me for dinner. Grid square twelve-delta reads clear of life forms.
Kira: Morn? Are you serious?
Dax: Beginning scan of grid square fifteen delta.
Kira: So what'd you say?
Dax: I told him I was busy.
Kira: Good.
Dax: But you know those seven or eight little wiry hairs that come out of his forehead?
Kira: What?
Dax: They make him look kind of cute. That's odd. Sensors read a humanoid presence in fifteen delta. Could be one of the project thermologists.
Kira: Not in fifteen delta.
Dax: Look for yourself.
Kira: All the inhabitants were supposed to have been evacuated by now. Well, I'd better beam down there, take a look around.
Dax: Ready to transport.
Kira: I won't be long.
Mullibok: The problem is, they don't like uniforms.
Kira: Neither do I, but it comes with the job.
Mullibok: Which is?
Kira: Do we talk, or do they attack?
Mullibok: You're halfway pretty.
Kira: Does that mean I can come in?
Mullibok: No. No, I don't like uniforms either. I'm scared of them. We had our fill of uniformed bullies.
Kira: I'm no Cardassian. You know you were supposed to be out of here by now.
Mullibok: All I know is this farm, girl. Now you want proof, just look at my crop.
Kira: I'd rather you didn't call me girl.
Mullibok: It's mostly katterpod beans, but you won't find better katterpods.
Kira: My father always said you get bigger katterpods when you spray in some chlorobicrobes.
Mullibok: Is that right? That could be. Your family's farmers, then.
Kira: No but if I don't get on your good side soon, my arm's going to fall off.
Mullibok: Pretty eyes like yours deserve a meal. You come on in.
Kira: I'm afraid we don't have the time. Obviously, you were overlooked in the general evacuation. I've got to get you out of here.
Mullibok: We'll talk about that over supper. Come on.
Jake: There he is.
Captain: Two twenty, bottom price two twenty.
Nog: Excuse me, sir. Are you the captain of the Lissepian cargo ship?
Captain: That's right.
Nog: And you do a lot of trading with the Cardassians?
Captain: Why not? One thing about Cardassians, they pay their bills.
Nog: Yes, I've heard that. I've also heard they love their yamok sauce.
Captain: Look, if you're trying to buy some yamok sauce from me, boy, you're wasting your time. I'm not carrying any.
Nog: We're not buying. We're selling.
Jake: Five thousand wrappages of it.
Nog: Original, not replicated.
Captain: Where would you two boys get all that yamok sauce?
Nog: We have connections.
Captain: Five thousand, you say.
Nog: And they can be yours for say, five bars of gold-pressed latinum.
Captain: That's a lot of latinum.
Nog: That's a lot of yamok sauce.
Captain: Look, I'm not carrying any latinum. But I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll trade you something for it.
Nog: We were counting on latinum.
Jake: Hold on. What would you trade? )
Captain: I'll give you a hundred gross of self-sealing stem bolts. Some Bajoran ordered them from me, and now he can't pay.
Jake: Self-sealing stem bolts?
Captain: Top grade merchandise. You won't find a better stem bolt in this sector.
Nog: I don't think so. We deal strictly in latinum.
Jake: Nog, are you sure?
Nog: What are we going to do with stem bolts?
Jake: What are we going to do with yamok sauce?
Nog: Sir, I've discussed it with my partner, and you have a deal.
Captain: Good. I'll meet you at cargo bay nine at twenty one hundred hours. We'll make the trade then.
Nog: Now the question is, what do we do with a hundred gross of self-sealing stem bolts.
Jake: I have a better question. How do we get your uncle's yamok sauce?
Mullibok: At least you're not the type that'd dispossess a man on an empty stomach.
Kira: Wouldn't think of it.
Mullibok: That's good, because these roots are going to take three hours to soften.
Kira: What?
Mullibok: You wouldn't want to eat your roots hard, now would you?
Kira: I'm in no hurry. Kira to Ganges.
Dax: This is Dax. Are you all right?
Kira: A man with a talent for delay has just invited me to a farewell supper here. You go on. I'll have one of the thermologists bring me back.
Dax: Enjoy supper. Dax out.
Mullibok: Here. Wash it off first, and then you scrape the skin off.
Kira: You don't talk much.
Mullibok: No, they don't talk at all. The Cardassians took care of that. They escaped up to this moon eighteen years ago. I've been here forty. We did real well together. Oh, get out the plates and utensils, like a good girl. That cupboard right over there. You know, you look real good even from this angle. But you know something? You walk like a carnivorous rastipod.
Kira: Now look! You're trying to make me mad.
Mullibok: How'm I doing?
Kira: Not well enough to get rid of me.
Mullibok: Damn. So what do they call you, dear?
Kira: I'm Major Kira. I'm in charge of evacuating all the
Mullibok: Your given name.
Kira: Nerys.
Mullibok: Nerys. Well, Nerys, I'm Mullibok, and these roots are really going to take three hours to cook, so you might as well just sit down and relax yourself, child. It's going to be tasty.
Kira: Mullibok, they begin tapping the core of this moon in seven days.
Mullibok: I know.
Kira: You are only three people. This project is going to benefit thousands, hundreds of thousands.
Mullibok: I made myself unconcerned with that forty years ago when I ran away from a Cardassian labor camp on your precious Bajor.
Kira: What we're trying to create now is what you weren't allowed to have then. It can be your Bajor, too.
Mullibok: This is where I live. This is my home.
Kira: You can have a home on Bajor with people to welcome you and your friends. Life'll be different, yes, but it'll be fine. Really.
Mullibok: No. I told you, my life's here. If I leave, I'll die. So I'd rather die here.
Girl: Dabo!
Nog: Uncle Quark.
Quark: You. Last night, that dabo player who dropped his drink? I saw you run and get him another one without charging him. I warned you about picking up your father's habits.
Nog: It'll never happen again, Uncle. You know, I was trying to find some storage space for the shipment of lokar beans that are due in tomorrow. Is it okay if I stack them on top of the yamok sauce? If I can reach that high.
Quark: Please don't talk to me about yamok sauce.
Nog: Do you want me to get rid of it? I can take it to the matter reclamation unit.
Quark: Anything. Just get it out of my sight. Nog, you're a good boy.
Mullibok: I stowed away on a Cardassian survey vessel which was making stops all through the Bajoran system. They were looking for possible mining sites. Anyway, when we got here to Jeraddo, I overpowered the crew and I stole whatever I'd need to start building my life here.
Kira: You overpowered the crew yourself?
Mullibok: There were only six of them. That was fortunate for me, because I was somewhat weakened a bit by the captivity and starvation. Anyway, here I was, the first person ever to settle on this moon, and the only trouble was that I didn't have any kind of farm implements. So once again starvation and I were staring each other in the face. I'm not boring you?
Kira: No, no. I want to hear who won.
Mullibok: Well, it was mind over matter. Every twenty-six hours I'd just tightened up my waist-belt another notch, and that way my belly didn't know that it was shrinking.
Kira: Excuse me?
Mullibok: You asked me to tell you how I got started here, which I'm trying very politely to do. Now will you kindly let me finish.
Kira: I assume you found some food before you ran out of belt notches.
Mullibok: Are you telling the story or am I?
Kira: By all means. I can't wait to hear how it ends.
Mullibok: Obviously I was going to have to plant and harvest a crop. So I did what any person would do who had to build an entire world for himself. First I rolled back and forth on the ground til it surrendered. Then I went down on my hands and knees and I started to plow using nothing but my fingernails, mind you. I plowed every last furrow in that field straight as a plumb line.
Kira: Now that is inventive.
Mullibok: If I came across a deposit of mineralised clay, what I'd do is just grind it up in my teeth. That way it enriched the soil. Baltrim, how about some of that wonderful wine here? What I'm telling you, Major. I tamed this place. Me.
Kira: I believe you.
Mullibok: You look like a bit of a fighter yourself.
Kira: Well, on Bajor, we had to be.
Mullibok: To get rid of the Cardassians. Mindless butchers.
Kira: We paid them back.
Mullibok: I bet you did. They probably never knew what hit them. I'm sorry I missed the fun.
Kira: Fun?
Mullibok: Must have been like spearing kandippers in a bottle.
Kira: Wait a minute, are you serious? You know what the Cardassians were like, what weapons they had. We didn't stand a chance against them.
Mullibok: How'd you beat them, then?
Kira: We beat them because, because we hung on like fanatics.
Mullibok: Hung on like fanatics. I got to remember that.
Kira: Mullibok, listen to me.
Mullibok: One of these days I'm going to have to finish up that kiln. Then I can temper my baking pots, put some colorful lids on them. That'd be nice, wouldn't it.
Kira: I appreciate that you're trying to hang on here. I sympathize, but you can't stay. The minute they start tapping the crust, it'll release carbon and sulfur compounds that'll make the air unbreathable.
Mullibok: The Cardassians probably told you you didn't stand a chance, either. Did you surrender?
Kira: No.
Mullibok: Why would you expect me to act any different than you? You tell them they can start cracking this moon apart whenever they're ready. I'll be here.
Kira: I'll tell them.
Jake: So that's a stem bolt.
Nog: A self-sealing stem bolt. There's a difference.
Jake: You're sure about that?
Nog: What's important is that it's top grade merchandise. You can't get a better stem bolt in this sector.
Jake: And we have a hundred gross of them.
Nog: That's a lot of stem bolts.
O'Brien: Excuse me, gentlemen. Anyone know what this cargo's doing here?
Nog: It belongs to my Uncle Quark. They're stem bolts.
O'Brien: Will you do me a favor and tell your uncle we're getting a bit weary of him bypassing import procedures.
Nog: I'll certainly do that, sir. It's just that my Uncle Quark really needed some stem bolts.
O'Brien: You mean self-sealing stem bolts.
Nog: That's right. That's it. Self-sealing stem bolts.
O'Brien: He sure needs a lot of them.
Jake: It's top grade merchandise. You can't find a better stem bolt in this sector.
O'Brien: Oh, I don't doubt it. What does he need them for?
Nog: The usual.
O'Brien: The usual?
Nog: Well, you know. Why does anybody use self-sealing stem bolts?
O'Brien: I wouldn't know. I've never used them.
Jake: Never?
O'Brien: I've never even seen one.
Nog: Then how did you know they're self-sealing?
O'Brien: I read it here on the manifest PADD.
Nog: I would've bet anything that he would have known what they were.
Jake: I told you. We should've asked that freighter captain.
Nog: Wait. I know who can tell us what self-sealing stem bolts are. The Bajoran who ordered them in the first place. His name's got to be on the shipping codes.
Jake: Sirco Ch'Ano. It has his address and everything. You think he'll be mad that we have his stem bolts?
Nog: He couldn't afford them, remember? But we'll offer to sell them to him at a diskount.
Dax: I'm glad you finally made it back. I was getting worried about you.
Kira: Is he alone?
Dax: I think Minister Toran is in there with him.
Kira: Even better.
Toran: I don't understand. There were forty-seven other people living on that moon. They all left willingly.
Kira: How do we know? All we know is that they obeyed the order to leave.
Toran: And so will these people.
Kira: You haven't met Mullibok.
Sisko: Is there anything you can offer that might make him more willing to leave?
Kira: Not a thing, believe me.
Sisko: Would a postponement help?
Kira: Give us time to work something out with him.
Toran: We can't postpone. And if he stays, he'll be committing suicide. We'll have to beam him off the surface.
Kira: If we take him like that, we'll be killing him.
Toran: I refuse to allow three stubborn holdouts to jeopardize a project that will benefit so many of our people. I'm sorry, Major. If there was anything else that we could do, we'd have done it.
Kira: But there is another way. We can tap the core using phased energy retrieval.
Toran: I thought we'd agreed phased energy retrieval would take too long. It would mean waiting a full year before we can extract any meaningful amount of energy. I wish we had the time to be more delicate, but we don't.
Kira: So instead we'll act like Cardassians.
Sisko: Easy, Major.
Toran: I resent that. It's obvious to me that you've developed a feeling for this man. Fine. I can accept that. But if you're not comfortable with completing this assignment, I'll find someone else who is.
Kira: That won't be necessary.
Kira: Mullibok? Mullibok!
Security: What about the other two?
Kira: They have a cottage thirty five, forty meters through there. Now remember, these people were victims of the Cardassians. They don't speak. They're very frightened of uniforms. Understood?
Security: Understood, Major.
Kira: If you find them working in the fields, just gather up their clothes and supplies, I guess.
Security: Without permission?
Kira: We're not going to get their permission. Just be very careful with everything.
Mullibok: You plan to use that?
Kira: Protocol. If you like, I'll help you pack your things.
Mullibok: You sent those two uniforms after Baltrim and Keena.
Kira: That's right. I'm doing what has to be done.
Mullibok: Me, too.
Kira: Don't make us take you by force. Please!
Kira: I promise you. It won't be so bad. You can plant whatever you want to on Bajor. Stay by yourself if you want to. That's fine. Take some seeds with you for those terrible roots of yours I had to eat. Just listen to reason.
Mullibok: Just listen to yourself, Major. Tell me what you hear.
Kira: What do you mean?
Mullibok: Well, I mean you sound like a two-headed Malgorian I knew when I was a boy. You ever try talk to a two-headed Malgorian?
Kira: This is no time for one of your stories.
Mullibok: You see, the thing about two-headed Malgorians is, it can never figure out what it really wants to do, and that can be very confusing, believe me.
Kira: You know, eventually you're going to have to stop talking, and deal with this.
Mullibok: And the trouble with my Malgorian friend was, he had all kind of problems and he couldn't decide how to solve them. So he'd always come running for me so I could solve them for him.
Kira: Mullibok.
Mullibok: You know what I finally said to that Malgorian? I said fellows, deal with it yourselves.
Kira: Fine. I'll pack your things myself.
Security: Major! They're crazy! The man just stuck me with a farm tool, and she attacked me from behind!
Mullibok: Let her go!
Security: Stop!
Mullibok: Let her go!
Kira: No!
Kira: You! Beam up to the runabout and call the station. Get Doctor Bashir. Move!
Ch'Ano: I'm sorry, I still can't see you. What'd you say your name was? I'm getting some kind of subspace interference.
Jake: My name's
Nog: We're, the Nog and, er the Noh-Jay Consortium, and we have a hundred gross of self-sealing stem bolts. And we were wondering
Ch'Ano: You have my stem bolts? What would you want for them?
Nog: We'll let you have them for five bars of gold-pressed latinum.
Ch'Ano: Five bars!
Nog: Four bars.
Ch'Ano: I don't think I
Nog: Three bars.
Ch'Ano: If I had any latinum, I'd already have the bolts. Would you consider an exchange?
Nog: I would consider one bar of latinum.
Jake: He doesn't have any latinum. Let's exchange for something.
Nog: I don't want something. I want latinum.
Ch'Ano: I can't hear you. Can I interest you in a piece of land?
Jake: Land is good.
Nog: For what? It's nothing but dirt.
Jake: How much land?
Ch'Ano: I can let you have seven tessipates.
Jake: Seven sounds good.
Nog: First yamok sauce, then stem bolts, now tessipates, and still no profit.
Jake: We're getting closer. I can feel it.
Nog: You can?
Jake: I think so.
Ch'Ano: Do we have a deal?
Jake: We'd have to see proof that you own the land.
Ch'Ano: Naturally. You'll get a transmission on that by twelve hundred hours.
Jake: You just bought yourself some stem bolts.
Jake: Land!
Nog: Dirt.
Bashir: Just rest easy. You took a phaser blast which punctured your peritoneum. It's serious, and if you try to move around, you'll make it worse.
Mullibok: Another uniform.
Bashir: Doctor Julian Bashir, Starfleet. Major Kira sent for me.
Mullibok: She did, huh? You're backwards, Nerys, I told you.
Mullibok: With me unconscious, she could have swept us all off of here with no trouble at all. My friends Baltrim and Keena?
Bashir: They've been evacuated to Bajor. I'll be taking you back to our station, so I can
Mullibok: No. I stay here.
Bashir: He refuses to leave.
Kira: Really?
Bashir: He's got to be cared for. I'm going to take him without his permission.
Kira: No, you're not.
Bashir: He needs close attention.
Kira: I'll be here.
Bashir: There's no medical facility here.
Kira: Leave the instructions and whatever medication you think he'll need.
Bashir: She didn't offer a word of explanation, sir. She simply removed her uniform tunic and started building.
Sisko: Well Doctor, right now she stands a pretty good chance of being out of uniform permanently. I'm going to tell Minister Toran that she's remained temporarily on Jeraddo at your request.
Bashir: But sir, that isn't true.
Sisko: Make it true, Doctor. Now, please.
Bashir: Commander, I'd advise that Major Kira remain on Jeraddo for humanitarian reasons. How long?
Sisko: The next day or two.
Bashir: For the next day or two, sir.
Sisko: Thank you, Doctor. I'll consider that request. Dismissed.
Mullibok: What's that?
Kira: It's for deep bruises. Don't ask my why it works. I'm not the doctor.
Mullibok: What're they going to do to you for staying here?
Kira: Probably the same thing they're going to do to you. I don't really know.
Mullibok: What are you so angry about?
Kira: I don't really know. When I was very small, I remember there was this tree right outside my window. It was the ugliest, most gnarled and battered old tree I've ever seen. Even the birds stayed away from it.
Mullibok: But you loved it.
Kira: I hated it. Because it'd grown so huge that its branches blotted out the sun for kellipates. And its roots buried themselves so deep in the soil nothing else could grow there. It was a big, selfish, annoying
Mullibok: Nasty
Kira: Nasty, nasty old tree.
Mullibok: Sounds to me like it had a lot of character.
Kira: A lot.
Mullibok: So what happened? Did you cut it down?
Kira: I don't know yet.
Sisko: Sisko to Kira.
Kira: Commander.
Sisko: I'm preparing to beam down.
Kira: I don't think that's a good idea.
Sisko: Major, either I'm coming down or you're coming up.
Mullibok: He doesn't have much faith in you, does he?
Mullibok: Nerys. This is still my home.
Mullibok: What do you want?
Sisko: I'm here to see Major Kira.
Mullibok: Well she doesn't want to see you. Neither do I.
Kira: Wait a minute. Don't speak for me.
Sisko: You know, you're causing a lot of trouble.
Mullibok: I can't tell you how delighted I am to hear it. How many of your Federation uniforms are you planning to send after me? Forty? Fifty?
Sisko: I don't think it'll come to that.
Mullibok: That depends on how bad you want to get rid of me.
Sisko: Mister Mullibok, I'm here because I'm concerned about my first officer.
Mullibok: What about her?
Sisko: By staying here, she's jeopardizing her career.
Kira: Would you go back to bed.
Mullibok: You quit telling me what to do!
Sisko: Major, can I see you outside for a minute?
Mullibok: Talk to him as long as you want. Why don't you tell him the story about your tree.
Kira: Be quiet.
Mullibok: There was this big, ugly tree.
Sisko: Go on.
Mullibok: Never mind.
Sisko: I can see why you like him.
Kira: What can I do for you, Commander?
Sisko: You and I have a material subsistence report to finish by the end of the week.
Kira: I don't think I'm going to be able to help you with that.
Sisko: It's part of the liaison officer's job.
Kira: I know.
Sisko: I don't like the prospect of having to break in a new one.
Sisko: You have a job to do here, Major, and you're not doing it.
Kira: It's not as simple as that.
Sisko: I'm not saying it's simple, I'm saying it can't wait. Look, I understand you're used to sympathizing with the underdog. You've spent your life fighting to overcome impossible odds just like he's doing. But you have to realize something, Major. You're on the other side now. Pretty uncomfortable, isn't it?
Kira: It's awful.
Sisko: When I first met you, Major, I thought you were hostile and arrogant. But I was wrong. Bajor needs you, and I need you. I like you and I don't want you to be hurt. So, as a friend, I'm here to remind you that his fate is already decided. Yours isn't.
Kira: Thank you.
Sisko: There'll be a runabout standing by. One to beam up.
Kira: Mullibok. Mullibok.
Mullibok: No! You're hurting her. Let go.
Kira: Easy.
Mullibok: Lussilla.
Kira: Easy.
Mullibok: I told you take your hands off me.
Kira: That's right. It's okay. Everything's going to be fine.
Mullibok: Oh. it's you.
Kira: You were having a bad dream.
Mullibok: Not just a bad dream, bad memories. I didn't say anything, did I?
Kira: No. Are you thirsty?
Mullibok: No.
Kira: Hungry?
Mullibok: No. Leave me alone.
Kira: Go back to sleep.
Mullibok: Where are you going?
Kira: I'd like to get some sleep, too.
Mullibok: Fine. Bring the chair over here. Well, are you my nurse, or not?
Kira: Is this better?
Mullibok: Are you going to talk all night, or let me sleep?
Jake: Nog, I'm waiting.
Nog: I'm thinking.
Jake: About what?
Nog: Latinum. And how we don't have any. All we have is dirt.
Jake: How many times do I have to tell you. It's not dirt, it's land.
Nog: What are we supposed to do with this land?
Jake: Sell it, I guess.
Nog: To who?
Jake: Why do I have to think of everything.
Nog: We should've kept the stem bolts.
Jake: Land is better than bolts.
Nog: How do you know?
Jake: You can build things on land.
Nog: You can't build anything without bolts.
Jake: Just throw down a card.
Quark: And you say they're based here on the station?
Odo: That's correct.
Quark: The Noh-Jay Consortium. No, never heard of it. Why do you ask?
Odo: I was contacted by a government official this morning. They want to build a reclamation facility on a strip of land owned by four different people. Three of them have agreed to sell, but the government doesn't know how to reach the fourth, this Noh-Jay Consortium.
Quark: You mean the government can't build without that one piece of land?
Odo: Apparently not.
Quark: What a wonderful opportunity for profit.
Jake: I told you that land was better than bolts.
Quark: And you think that I'm part of this consortium?
Odo: I think very little goes on here without your knowledge.
Quark: True. This time, however, someone has failed to include me.
Odo: Are you telling me you're not involved?
Quark: Not yet, but that will be remedied. You can tell the Bajorans I'll be opening negotiations with them shortly.
Quark: Let's see. Who on this station is clever enough
Nog: Uncle Quark?
Quark: Not now.
Nog: But Uncle Quark.
Quark: Go sweep the floor.
Nog: It's important.
Quark: All right, make it fast.
Nog: I have a business opportunity that might interest you. It'll only cost you five bars of gold-pressed latinum.
Quark: Nog.
Kira: Any pain?
Mullibok: Just a little sore. I was starting to think you'd sleep all day.
Kira: That's because I was taking care of you all night.
Mullibok: I don't recall asking you to that. I can handle this. Go get something to eat.
Kira: There isn't time.
Mullibok: You're finally leaving?
Kira: Last one.
Mullibok: I didn't think I'd ever finish it.
Kira: It's finished.
Mullibok: Nothing to do but fire it up.
Mullibok: What's all this?
Kira: You've finished your work, now I have to finish mine.
Mullibok: But you don't want to.
Kira: I could use a friend on Bajor. I'd like it to be you.
Mullibok: As long as that cottage is standing, I stay here.
Mullibok: What the hell are you doing!
Kira: Saving your life.
Mullibok: So you chose your uniform over me after all.
Kira: That's not true. The time I've spent with you here has meant so much to me, but it's over. It's time we went on with our lives. Mine and yours.
Mullibok: You say you're my friend. Prove it. Use that weapon on me.
Kira: I can't.
Mullibok: If I leave here I'll die.
Kira: No, you won't. I won't let you. Two to beam up.


Quark: Can't you ever just let go?
Odo: Let go?
Quark: The place is almost deserted. There hasn't been a ship in for three days and yet you just sit here like a Baneriam Hawk looking for prey. This is your chance to relax. I could set you up with a terrific holosuite program.
Odo: Thank you, but I don't accept gifts from the likes of you.
Quark: Who said anything about gifts? You pay like everyone else. I'm just trying to get you into the tent.
Odo: I have no time for fantasies.
Quark: Ah. No imagination, huh?
Odo: Waste of time. Too many people dream of places they'll never go, wish for things they'll never have, instead of paying adequate attention to their real lives.
Quark: I could create a shape-shifter playmate for you. The two of you could intermingle.
Odo: You're disgusting.
Quark: It's a living.
Odo: You're not allowing young Mister Sisko in your holosuites, I hope.
Quark: It's not what you think.
Odo: It better not be.
Quark: You see that thing on his hand? It's a baseball mitten. Every afternoon, the boy goes up to play. His father brought a program with famous players. You ever hear of Tris Speaker or Ted Williams or Buck Bokai?
Odo: Afraid not.
Quark: Neither had I until I made it my business to find out. With all these humans coming now, the true entrepreneur knows how to sniff the wind. Try it. Go ahead.
Odo: I have no sense of smell.
Quark: You don't need one to detect the scent of opportunity.
Odo: Opportunity.
Quark: Family entertainment. That's the future, Odo. There's a fortune to be made. Little holo-creatures running around, rides and games for the kiddies, Ferengis in every doorway selling useless souvenirs.
Odo: You're going to replace all your sexual holo-programs with family entertainment?
Quark: No, no, no, I'm expanding. I'm negotiating to lease the space next door so I can use the same holo-generators.
Odo: You're still disgusting.
Quark: Till the day I die.
Dax: I'm sure you're exaggerating.
Bashir: You are constantly in my thoughts. I can't even
Waiter: That was two raktajinos, extra strong.
Bashir: I can't even concentrate.
Dax: You seemed to be concentrating just fine on the junior Lieutenant at the reception for Captain Stadius.
Bashir: She was a poor substitute for you.
Dax: And the Betazoid envoy who was here last week.
Bashir: A barely adequate substitute for you.
Dax: Julian, you are a wonderful friend. I enjoy the time we spend together.
Bashir: Stop. You're driving a stake through my heart.
Dax: Try a high-pitched sonic shower. It'll make you feel better.
Bashir: No it won't.
Bashir: I've already tried it.
Dax: Sorry I'm late. I was having dinner with Julian.
Sisko: How is our young doctor?
Dax: Young. Anything going on?
Kira: We were just looking at an unusual energy reading.
Dax: Elevated thoron emissions in the plasma field.
Sisko: We thought it might be an environmental byproduct created by the increased traffic to this area.
Dax: It could be. Ships have always avoided the Denorios Belt. We have no idea how the presence of so many warp and impulse engines might affect it. The question is, is this going to cause us any problems?
Kira: We were hoping you could tell us.
O'Brien: And the messenger from the Queen watched the little man as he danced and sang and laughed. How he would soon have the daughter he always wanted because they would never guess that his name was
Molly: Rumpelstiltskin.
O'Brien: Rumpelstiltskin, right. And the next day, when the little man came and asked, 'Now, Mrs Queen, what is my name?' She said at first, 'Are you called Jack?' 'No,' he answered. 'Are you called Harry?' 'No,' he answered. And then she said, 'Then perhaps your name is'
Molly: Rumpelstiltskin.
O'Brien: Rumpelstiltskin. And at the sound of his own name, the old man was so furious that he stamped his foot, shaking the entire kingdom, and he broke in two and disappeared. And the King and Queen and their daughter lived happily ever after. Good night, little one. Sweet dreams.
Molly: I'm not tired!
Keiko: Ah, ah, ah, none of that. Goodnight, sweetheart.
O'Brien: Now then, shall I tuck you in with a bedtime story too?
Keiko: Only if you're tucked in with me.
O'Brien: Naturally.
Molly: Mommy?
Keiko: What is it, honey?
Molly: He's in my room.
Keiko: Who?
Molly: Rumpelstiltskin.
O'Brien: Sweetheart, that was just make-believe. Rumpelstiltskin isn't real, okay? All right, I'll come in and check, but then it's bedtime. Why we tell her stories about evil dwarfs that want to steal children?
Rumpelstiltskin: Don't look so distraught. I'm only here to offer you my services if you should need them.
O'Brien: Take her out of here.
Keiko: What's wrong?
Keiko: Miles, what?
O'Brien: Please, just go.
Rumpelstiltskin: A pity you're sending the ladies away. It's as if all the life just went out of the room.
O'Brien: O'Brien to Security.
Security: Go ahead.
O'Brien: Intruder alert. Send a team to my quarters immediately.
Security: On our way, Chief.
Rumpelstiltskin: So where's the straw? I assume you want gold spun from straw?
O'Brien: What are you?
Rumpelstiltskin: Surely you must know. You were just telling the little one all about me.
O'Brien: I know what you look like. but you're not
Rumpelstiltskin: Ah, don't say it. I don't like the sound of it, you know.
O'Brien: Rumpelstiltskin.
Rumpelstiltskin: You didn't think that would make me break in two and disappear, did you? Not this time. I learned my lesson back in the kingdom. I don't make deals like that any more.
Rumpelstiltskin: Ah, the local constabularies. Gents, give me a small bit of courtesy and I'll be very pleasant, but try and lay a hand on me, and you'll soon regret it. Besides, I'm much too fast for you.
Rumpelstiltskin: And now, my good host, if gold is not your pleasure, tell me your needs and I'll tell you my price.
O'Brien: O'Brien to Sisko.
Sisko: Go ahead, Chief.
O'Brien: I need you in my quarters on the double.
Sisko: I'm on my way.
Jake: Dad, I've got to talk to you.
Sisko: Jake, I don't have time.
Buck: Hello, Ben.
Jake: He followed me home from the holosuite.
Bashir: Jadzia!
Dax: Hello, Julian.
Bashir: What are you doing here?
Dax: Watching you. Waiting for you to wake up.
Bashir: I'm awake.
Dax: Is something wrong?
Bashir: Funny, I was about to ask you the same question. It must be this Larosian virus that's been going around. How do you feel?
Dax: Wonderful.
Bashir: No fever. It must be me. It must be me. It must be me. Must be an allergic reaction to the replicated antipasto I had at lunch. Perhaps, I must be hallucinating.
Dax: Why are you fighting this?
Bashir: Why am I fighting this? Why am I fighting this? I have no good answer to that question.
Kira: All senior officers report to Ops immediately.
Bashir: Okay, I get it. Very funny. Did O'Brien put you up to this?
Dax: I don't know what you're talking about.
Bashir: Senior officers report to Ops. We all walk in, everybody has a good laugh at my expense.
Dax: This is not a joke, Julian.
Bashir: We'll see.
Sisko: Ah, good. It seems we have a small mystery on our hands. Lieutenant Jadzia Dax and Doctor Julian Bashir, I'd like you to meet Harmon Bokai, a baseball player from the London Kings who's been dead for two hundred years.
Buck: Don't look at me. I can't figure it out either.
Sisko: And a medieval fairy tale character named Rumpelstiltskin.
Rumpelstiltskin: Fine, now everyone knows my name.
Sisko: Until today, he only existed in storybooks.
Bashir: A pleasure, I'm sure.
Sisko: Could this be related to the increased thoron emissions in the plasma field?
Dax 2: Thoron emissions?
Dax: I think you'd better ask me, Benjamin.
Buck: I was hitting a few to the boy. He's really been moving well onto the ball lately, Ben. We would've worked on some baserunning except he was getting hungry and I realized I was too.
Kira: A hologram with an appetite?
Buck: Hologram?
Bashir: On the contrary, Major, he's quite real. They all seem to be.
Buck: What the hell are they talking about, Ben?
Sisko: You. You're not actually Buck Bokai.
Buck: So how come I'm wearing his uniform?
Sisko: You're a holographic image of Buck Bokai that I created so Jake and I could play ball with you.
Buck: But I remember. I remember all the games, all the opening days. The home run that won the forty two World Series. The squeaker that went under Eddie Newsom's glove. The day I broke DiMaggio's consecutive streak.
Sisko: I programd it into the computer. All of it. Every statistic.
Rumpelstiltskin: What foreign tongue are they speaking?
O'Brien: This one didn't come out of any holosuite.
Sisko: But he did come out of your imagination, just as Buck came out of Jake's.
Rumpelstiltskin: His imagination?
Dax 2: Then I must have come out of your imagination, Julian.
Bashir: Not necessarily. Well, maybe. How could this sort of thing possibly happen?
Dax: A subspace disruption. Maybe some kind of dimensional shift.
Dax: I didn't see an anomaly when I scanned the plasma field, but it could have been so small the sensors missed it.
Dax 2: Julian, let's go to your quarters.
Bashir: Please, I haven't got time for this.
Odo: Odo to Sisko.
Sisko: Go ahead.
Odo: Is there something you want to tell me?
Sisko: I'm in no mood for games, Constable.
Sisko: What do you need?
Odo: Are the environmental controls broken down? It's snowing on the Promenade.
Sisko: Snowing?
Odo: We're looking at five or six centimeters down here.
Sisko: Bring in all available security, Odo.
Sisko: We're going to Yellow alert.
Odo: What's going on?
Sisko: It seems we're letting our imaginations run wild. As soon as I have an explanation I'll give you one. Sisko out.
Kira: Yellow alert? Against our own imaginations?
Sisko: You have a better idea?
Dax: I think I've got something. Look at the wave patterns of the plasma field.
O'Brien: The wave front's converging toward a single point.
Dax: The particle density rises as you get closer to the center, but then it looks like it just drops off completely.
O'Brien: You're right. I'm not getting any particulate readings from the core.
Kira: What does that mean?
Dax: Whatever falls in there is just gone.
Bashir: You were right. It is some kind of subspace disruption.
Sisko: I want a full analysis. Chief, get a class four probe ready.
O'Brien: Aye, sir..
Rumpelstiltskin: Is there anything I can do to help?
Odo: Odo to Ops.
Sisko: Go ahead.
Odo: The snow's
Odo: Disappeared but now there's a Gunji jackdaw running loose down here.
Sisko: Just try to keep things under control, Odo. We're working on it.
Odo: Understood. Come along now, come along. There we go.
Odo: Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? Ladies and gentlemen, and all androgynous creatures, your attention please! As you may have noticed, we're experiencing some difficulties. I'm going to have to ask you all to please refrain from using your imaginations.
Quark: Just because you don't have an imagination, don't ruin it for the rest of us.
Quark: Let me guess. Another clever Federation experiment has gone awry and you've turned the whole station into one vast holosuite.
Odo: The phenomenon is being investigated as we speak.
Quark: Well, tell them to take their time. I haven't had the chance to show the ladies my collection of Tartaras landscapes yet.
Odo: I'm surprised by your attitude, Quark.
Quark: Ah, yes, well, you simply don't have the same appreciation for art as I do.
Girl: Dabo!
Odo: I'm surprised because every one of your customers is winning.
Quark: What?
Odo: They're taking you to the poorhouse.
Girl: Dabo! Another winner!
Quark: No! No, that's not possible. Let me through. Lose. Lose. One cross. Two cross. No. No.
Odo: You're outnumbered, Quark. Pardon me. Pardon me.
Dax: I was afraid of this. The proximity of the wormhole is amplifying the rupture.
Bashir: The proton counts are going through the roof.
Dax: Dax to O'Brien. How are you coming with that probe, Chief?
O'Brien: I'll have the subspace scanners programd in less than an hour.
Dax: Keep me informed. Dax out.
Bashir: I have the wave intensity analysis.
Dax: Computer, scan all data files for comparable wave intensity patterns.
Computer: Stand by.
Bashir: Jadzia, I find this difficult to say, but I want you to know, I would
Dax: Julian, there's really no need to apologize. In a way, I feel as if we've invaded your privacy. We all have fantasies and dreams we keep to ourselves, thoughts that should remain private.
Bashir: I'm glad you understand.
Dax: Of course I do. I was a young man, once.
Bashir: So we can put all this behind us?
Dax: Of course.
Bashir: Good. The computer seems to be having trouble finding a match.
Dax: She really is submissive, isn't she? Is that how you want me to be, Julian? So submissive?
Dax 2: I am not submissive. Am I?
Bashir: No, er, well, I don't think so.
Dax 2: I'm just not the cold fish you are.
Dax: Cold fish?
Bashir: Now, I never said that.
Dax 2: If you'd get down off your high horse, you'd start to appreciate Julian.
Bashir: She has a sense of humor, as, as I've always imagined you do.
Dax: I could use one about now.
Dax 2: Come on, Lieutenant. Stop denying all those yearnings you feel.
Dax: Yearnings?
Dax 2: If you don't, you'll never know what you missed.
Computer: Pattern match found.
Bashir: Just in the nick of time.
Dax: A similar subspace rupture was reported in the Hanoli System in the mid twenty third century.
Bashir: The Hanoli system? I don't believe I know where that is.
Dax: There's no reason you should. When the rupture expanded, the system was destroyed.
Sisko: Captain's log, stardate 46853.2. We have launched a probe to study the subspace anomaly. Meanwhile, more than half the people aboard DS Nine have reported manifestations of their imagined thoughts.
Dax: All probe systems are reading normal.
O'Brien: Calibrating sensors for subspace. Three minutes to coordinates.
Dax: Wave pattern should begin to fluctuate any time now. There.
O'Brien: The probe is penetrating the thoron field. Two and a half minutes to coordinates.
Rumpelstiltskin: Ah, for simpler times, eh?
O'Brien: Go away.
Rumpelstiltskin: I only want to help.
O'Brien: You're in the way.
Rumpelstiltskin: A farmer from Derry once tried to chase me off until I saved his crops from locusts
O'Brien: Two minutes to coordinates. Thoron emissions are stable.
Rumpelstiltskin: You know what I find most intriguing about you, my good host? You're afraid. Of me.
O'Brien: Look, figment, I'm not afraid of anybody, least of all you. Ninety seconds to coordinates.
Rumpelstiltskin: Figment, am I?
O'Brien: A figment of my imagination, that's all.
Rumpelstiltskin: And yet you can't deny how this imagination of yours empowers me, can you? Empowers me in a way that somehow terrifies you.
O'Brien: You should be getting some primary data, Commander.
Sisko: They're coming in now, Chief. Stand by.
Rumpelstiltskin: She is your first born, isn't she?
O'Brien: Thirty seconds to coordinates.
Dax: Thoron emission patterns unstable. Probe hull temperature dropping rapidly.
O'Brien: Ten seconds.
Dax: The probe's approaching the perimeter of the anomaly. That's strange.
Sisko: What is it?
Dax: Negative readings on all sensors. We may be looking at some sort of folded space.
Sisko: Let's see what the optical scanner on the probe gives us.
Bashir: It's drawing in all the matter from the surrounding space.
Dax: Benjamin, it's getting larger.
Buck: Feel like taking a few ground balls?
Sisko: Look, I tried to tell you. You're on a space station in the twenty-fourth century. The only ball field around is a holographic simulation. It's not real and neither are you.
Buck: Oh. You see, I don't get it. I can pinch myself and it hurts, and I am here with you, aren't I?
Sisko: Right now you are, but in a minute, who knows? I hope when we get this thing figured out you'll
Buck: Disappear for good?
Sisko: I hope so.
Buck: Oh, you do, huh? Well, let's say for a moment I don't. So what am I supposed to do, huh? You got room on your team for a switch hitting third baseman with good power?
Sisko: Good power from the left side.
Buck: Left side? Ben! Hey! Hey, Ben. What are you talking about? I hit over twenty homers right-handed in each of my first three years in the majors.
Sisko: And never more than ten after that.
Buck: That was because Old Crow moved me to second in the order.
Sisko: I wish I had more time for this.
Buck: Well, that was baseball's epitaph, wasn't it. Nobody seemed to have time for us anymore. I could've played five more years if they hadn't killed the game.
Sisko: You were the best that ever played. I know. I've played with them all. I've got work to do.
Buck: Hey, Ben. It really meant a lot to me, how much you cared. That day we won that world series, there were only three hundred people in the stands.
Sisko: Three hundred and one in my version.
Buck: I heard you cheering. It meant a lot to me. I just thought you should know, you know. In case I do finally disappear.
Sisko: Ops.
Rumpelstiltskin: We don't know any more than when we started.
Dax 2: Why would mine create a woman and then reject her?
Rumpelstiltskin: Why would mine create a dwarf that could terrify him? We should abandon the whole thing.
Buck: Not yet. I made a connection with mine. A curious one. I sense a feeling from him. An affection for this ballplayer who died two hundred years before he was even born.
Rumpelstiltskin: How much longer do you suggest we devote to this?
Buck: As long as it takes. It ain't over til it's over.
Sisko: Captain's log, supplemental. The subspace anomaly continues to expand. As of yet, we've been unable to find a way to contain it. As a precaution, we have diverted all incoming ships away from the station.
O'Brien: A Vulcan science mission to the Hanoli rift detonated a pulse wave torpedo at the coordinates of the tear.
Dax: Five minutes after they did, the rupture expanded radically.
O'Brien: They were wiped out, along with the entire Hanoli system.
Kira: What happened to the rupture after that? it's not still there?
Dax: It reached a critical mass point and imploded and then disappeared from normal space altogether.
Sisko: Were there any reports from the Vulcans about hallucinations on board? Anything similar to what we're experiencing?
O'Brien: No, sir. But they were only within range of the anomaly for twelve hours.
Bashir: And Vulcans don't have the most active imaginations.
Sisko: Were there any explanations offered for the initial cause of the rupture?
Dax: Dozens. Nothing confirmed. But we do know there were no wormholes and very little starship activity in the area before it formed.
O'Brien: We've looked high and low for some common ground, something to give us a fix on how to attack this thing. And frankly, sir, as funny as it sounds, we think pulse wave torpedoes may still be the best approach.
Kira: Wait a minute. If it didn't work very well last time, why
O'Brien: The Vulcans were using a primitive device. In the past two hundred years, we've developed far better ways of controlling the flux density. We should be able to contain the internal reaction this time.
Kira: And if we can't, we destroy the whole Bajoran system.
Sisko: Major, the rupture is already expanding. We have to seal it or it's going to destroy this system anyway.
Dax: The smaller it is, the better chance we have.
Sisko: How long will it take to create one of these torpedoes?
O'Brien: We could have one ready by twenty two hundred hours.
Sisko: If the rift expands at all before imploding, we have to be prepared. Route auxiliary power to shields. Major, I'd like you to coordinate evacuation of the pylons. Odo can help you. Dismissed.
Kira: Kira to Odo.
Odo: What is it, Major?
Kira: I need you to do a security sweep through the pylons. We're going to evacuate them.
Odo: I'll get on it as soon as possible. I've got my hands full right now. Clear the way. Get out of the corridor. Let them through. Clear the way, now.
Kira: Kira to Ops. Lower pylon one is gone. I need emergency
Sisko: Sisko to Kira. Report. Kira, can you read me? Major Kira, report.
Kira: Disregard, Commander. False alarm. Kira out.
Kira: All personnel in lower pylon one, report to outer ring airlock. Prepare for evacuation.
Odo: Clear the way now, clear the way. Please stay inside. This isn't a show.
Quark: Odo!
Odo: Get out of the way.
Quark: Odo! Odo! Odo! Odo! Odo! Thank goodness. I want to report two missing persons. A blonde and a brunette.
Odo: Can't you see I'm busy. Don't scare them!
Quark: One minute they're whispering sweet nothings in my ear, the next minute the sweet nothings are gone.
Odo: Will you get off the street before
Quark: Girls! I've been looking everywhere for you. Don't ever do that to me again. So, Odo, what have you conjured up during all this?
Odo: Me?
Quark: I should have guessed. Nothing at all.
Odo: I've spent all my time chasing incarnations of the Prophets, long dead lovers, Gunji jackdaws, blizzards, trollops.
Quark: As I always said, a man without any imagination. Come along, my dears. I'll show you what a fertile imagination can do.
Odo: Imagination, ha. Computer, run a level one personnel sweep of all pylons
Computer: Requested function will take approximately three minutes.
Quark: Let me out of here! Let me out of here! Get the Nagus on subspace. I want to talk to him and I mean now! I'm not spending another minute in this cell.
Odo: How did you get in there?
Quark: How did I get in here? You put me in here!
Odo: I guess I did, didn't I?
Quark: Yeah.
Odo: No imagination, indeed. Ha!
Buck: Heads up, Jake. So what are you doing here?
Jake: I can't go. I've got homework to do.
Buck: But you'd rather be at the ballpark.
Jake: You don't understand. If I go to the holosuite without finishing my homework, my dad'll kill me.
Buck: Kill you?
Jake: Yeah.
Buck: You really believe he'd kill you?
Jake: I know he would.
Buck: Well if that's true, why are you still thinking about going?
Jake: I'm trying not to.
Buck: But you are wondering if you can get away with it, aren't you.
Sisko: Well?
Jake: I couldn't understand the directions. The computer accidentally erased the instruction page.
Sisko: You really expect me to believe that?
Jake: No, I guess not.
Jake: I've really got homework to do.
Dax: I need to see you, Benjamin.
Sisko: What do you have, Dax?
Dax: In the last hour alone, the rupture's expanded twenty seven percent The rate of expansion is increasing.
Sisko: Can we gain any time by moving the station?
Dax: If the rift collapses, the implosion would overtake us almost immediately.
Sisko: How soon can you be ready, Chief?
O'Brien: I'm installling pulse wave devices in the torpedoes now, Commander. Six, seven minutes.
Dax: The rift's gotten large enough to pick up on visual scanners. SISKO On screen. Magnify.
Kira: All pylons are secured. Everyone's been moved to the habitat ring for the time being.
Dax 2: You're worried.
Bashir: You bet I am. If this doesn't work, nothing real or imagined is going to survive.
Dax 2: Hold me, please.
O'Brien: Torpedoes ready.
Sisko: Status of shields?
Dax: All available power's been transferred. Reading shield strength at one hundred fifty eight percent above normal.
Sisko: Let's hope it's enough. Red alert. Fire.
O'Brien: All systems functioning properly. Torpedo guidance is on nominal track.
Dax: Thirty seconds to coordinates.
O'Brien: Impulse sustainer throttling down. Arming pulse wave initiator.
Dax: Torpedo hull temperature dropping.
O'Brien: Activating pulse waves. Compression level at fourteen hundred and rising.
Dax: Twenty seconds.
O'Brien: Compression twenty nine hundred. Three thousand.
Dax: Terminal targeting spread confirmed.
O'Brien: Thirty five hundred. Holding compression.
Dax: Ten seconds.
Sisko: Ready to detonate.
O'Brien: Ready, sir.
Dax: Five seconds.
Sisko: Now.
O'Brien: Wave intensity from the rift is dropping. The thoron field boundary is shrinking. Particle energy is rising. Wait a minute, what's this?
Dax: Wave emissions are fluctuating. We're not getting a controlled collapse.
Sisko: Chief?
O'Brien: Damn it. We're picking up an exothermic reaction pattern. It may be neutralizing the pulse waves. Stand by.
Kira: Perimeter sensors are picking up a subspace oscillation. What the hell does that mean?
Dax: Proton counts have tripled.
O'Brien: Residual pulse wave activity from our torpedoes is down to fourteen percent. The flux density readings inside the rupture are off the scale.
Odo: Odo to Ops. Ops? Ops!
Kira: Comm. circuits are down. I'll trying to reroute pathways. Life support is normal.
Sisko: Shields?
O'Brien: A generator's down. Section four is exposed.
Odo: Odo to Ops!
Kira: There we go.
Sisko: Constable, check for casualties. Have your deputies move everybody out of section four. We have shield damage.
Odo: Acknowledged.
Sisko: What are we getting from the rift?
Dax: Sensors aren't operating.
O'Brien: Stand by, sir.
Dax 2: I can't feel my hands.
Bashir: Lie still, lie still. There's an emergency medical kit in the cabinet there. Get it.
Dax 2: I'm sorry.
Bashir: Shh.
Buck: Here you go.
Dax 2: I never meant to bother you.
Bashir: No, no. You didn't bother me
Dax 2: I can't keep my eyes open.
Bashir: Don't close your eyes. I want you awake. You have a nasty concussion.
Dax 2: I can't help it.
Bashir: Dax! Dax!
O'Brien: Sensors are back online.
Kira: The rupture is continuing to widen. Three hundred and forty times larger than before.
Sisko: Is it showing any signs of collapsing?
Dax: Wave emissions from the rift are still fluctuating. I can't make sense out of these readings. Proton counts are lower than before. And now they're beginning to rise again.
O'Brien: The pulse waves from our torpedoes have been completely neutralized. It's just a matter of time before the rift starts expanding again.
Sisko: How much time?
O'Brien: Minutes.
Sisko: Suggestions?
Rumpelstiltskin: Run out of ideas, friend? I have a suggestion. Maybe I can help.
O'Brien: You?
Rumpelstiltskin: You created me with powers beyond those of mortal men. I would be more than happy to use them to assist you, for a price.
Rumpelstiltskin: I've always wanted a daughter.
Keiko: Miles?
Kira: Perimeter sensors are picking up subspace oscillations again.
O'Brien: You're telling me you can seal that rupture out there?
Rumpelstiltskin: I can spin straw into gold, my friend. This seems no more difficult.
O'Brien: Well do it, damn it!
Rumpelstiltskin: Will you meet my price?
O'Brien: This is crazy. You're out of a storybook, a fairy tale.
Rumpelstiltskin: Are you willing give her up to save so many others?
Sisko: No. He doesn't have to. Dax, when did our sensors first pick up traces of the rupture?
Dax: You were there, Benjamin. When we were first trying to figure this whole thing out.
Sisko: And if I remember correctly, you said that your previous scans hadn't picked up any anomalies at all.
Dax: I thought that whatever was out there was too small for the scanners to identify.
Sisko: So you imagined that we had a subspace rupture, and that's exactly what it turned out to be.
Dax: That is what I imagined.
Sisko: And once you learned about the rift that destroyed the Hanoli system, we all imagined that we might have another just like it. Mister O'Brien, drop the shields.
O'Brien: Sir?
Sisko: There is no rupture. There is no threat to this station or this system. End Red alert and drop the shields.
O'Brien: Aye, sir.
Sisko: And believe it, Mister O'Brien. It's important that you believe it.
O'Brien: Aye, sir.
Sisko: Are your sensors picking up any magnetic shock waves, Major?
Kira: Yes, sir. Perimeter readings still show
Sisko: No shock waves at all.
Kira: None at all.
Sisko: Lieutenant, proton counts.
Dax: Normal.
Kira: It's gone.
Bashir: You're going to be fine.
Dax 2: Of course, I am. I have the best doctor in the galaxy.
Kira: None of this makes any sense. I mean, why did they appear in the first place?
Dax: It might still be related to the elevated thoron emissions in the plasma field. The readings still haven't returned to normal.
Sisko: Continue your analysis, Dax, but this time no speculations, just facts.
Dax: Yes, Benjamin.
Sisko: Major, keep us on yellow alert for the next twenty six hours till we see that everything is back to normal. Chief, take your family home. That's an order.
O'Brien: Aye, sir.
Buck: This imagination of yours, it's a tough concept for us to get a handle on, Ben.
Sisko: You're not simply a figment of my imagination, are you.
Buck: We're on an extended mission exploring the galaxy. Awhile back, we followed one of your ships through that hole in space out there. We've been watching you, trying to figure out the rules of your game.
Sisko: Why didn't you just talk to us like this?
Buck: We've learned you never can tell how someone will treat the visiting team.
Sisko: I understand.
Buck: That's what this has been all about. Learning to understand.
Sisko: Was it really necessary to put the whole station in jeopardy?
Buck: But we didn't, Ben. It was you. It was your imaginations that created everything. We were just watching to see where it took you. This imagination of yours. We have never seen anything like it. It's very real to all of you but yet it's not. At first, it seemed to us to be a curse, an irritation. That Odo fellow even called it a waste of time.
Sisko: I'd disagree with him.
Buck: I knew you would. I learned that about you. That you could have such an affection for someone you never even met. I wonder if you appreciate how unique that imagination of yours really is.
Sisko: Not always.
Buck: We've got to go.
Sisko: But you haven't told us anything about your species.
Buck: I'd like to. Maybe next year.