Sisko tries to rescue Gul Dukat, stop the Maquis terrorists, and prevent a new war with the Cardassians.
Summary
Legate Parn
Calvin Hudson, now part of the Maquis, has Sisko, Kira, and Bashir at his mercy. Sisko demands to see Gul Dukat, whom the Maquis abducted, to which Hudson accuses Sisko of siding with the Cardassians over him. According to Hudson, the Maquis's top priority is peace but insists the Cardassians' crimes cannot go unpunished, and Sisko points out that it is revenge, not peace, they seek. "I prefer to call it retaliation," Hudson smirks. After Sisko declines an offer to join the Maquis, the Maquis shoot him, Kira, and Bashir.
Admiral Nechayev is waiting for Sisko when he returns to Deep Space 9, and Dax informs him that Legate Parn of Cardassian Central Command will be arriving soon as well. Nechayev refers to the Maquis as "a bunch of irresponsible hotheads" and tells Sisko to talk to them, although he finds such sentiments out of touch with reality. When Necheyev leaves, Kira informs him that Legate Parn has just arrived. He is on his way to greet the Cardassian leader when Odo reports that he has caught "one of the Vulcan's accomplices."
Sisko arrives in the security office to find Quark in a holding cell. Quark attempts to evade discussion of his business with Sakonna but eventually reveals that he arranged for the Maquis to acquire weapons. While he had not heard of the Maquis at the time, he is sure Sakonna plans to execute her plans within the next few days. Legate Parn, upon meeting with Sisko, informs him and Kira that the Cardassian Central Command has discovered Dukat to be the leader of "a small group of misguided officers" who were smuggling weapons to the demilitarized zone. However, neither Sisko nor Kira believe him.
On one of the Maquis worlds, Sakonna attempts to establish a Vulcan mind meld with Dukat, who openly mocks his captors. When Sisko, Bashir, and Odo interrupt the interrogation, there is a momentary standoff, during which Dukat grows impatient. "Shoot them!" he yells and knocks Sakonna over, triggering a firefight. The Maquis are arrested, but Sisko allows one of them named Amaros to go free with a message to Cal Hudson that it is not too late to settle things peacefully.
The Xepolite captain, who becomes much more cooperative when Dukat threatens to destroy his ship
They bring Dukat back to Deep Space 9, where he inquires about the fact that Federation, not Cardassian forces rescued him. Sisko tells Dukat about Legate Parn turning him into a scapegoat and the two men put past differences aside to work together to stop both the weapons smuggling and the Maquis. By this time, Odo has obtained an extensive list of weapons Sakonna bought from Quark, but he has been unable to find out more. The crew focus on the weapons smuggling instead for the time being. With Dukat's help, they find a Xepolite trader and detain a shipment of weapons from him, finally obtaining proof of the conspiracy.
Back on the station, Quark and Sakonna share a holding cell. He calls her position with the Maquis illogical and uses the Rules of Acquisition to explain that with the Cardassian plan exposed, "peace can be bought at a bargain price." She informs Sisko that the Maquis are planning to blow up a hidden Cardassian weapons depot in the next 52 hours, but she does not know where it is. Dukat says he can find the depot's location, and in the meantime, Sisko visits Cal Hudson one final time. He brings along Hudson's uniform, which Hudson vaporizes with a phaser.
The crew is waiting in runabouts when the Maquis arrive at the depot, and as neither Hudson nor Sisko wants to hurt the other, the resulting dogfight is relatively slow paced. Sisko's runabout and Hudson's raider each try to disable the other. Hudson manages to knock out Sisko's engines, but his own phasers are disabled. He flees and, over Dukat's objections, Sisko allows him to escape. Ultimately, Sisko wonders if he has prevented a war or delayed the inevitable.
Memorable Quotes
"On Earth, there is no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window of Starfleet Headquarters and you see Paradise. Well, it's easy to be a saint in Paradise, but the Maquis do not live in Paradise. Out there in the demilitarized zone, all the problems haven't been solved yet. Out there, there are no saints — just people. Angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive, whether it meets with Federation approval or not!"
- - Sisko, on Nechayev's suggestion that he "establish a dialog" with the Maquis
"Do you expect us to believe that a Vulcan would be interested in you for your lobes?"
"Vulcans are a species that appreciate good ears."
- - Odo and Quark
"Anyone can blow up a ship. Hah! But to look your enemy in the eye, knowing that you will remember his face for the rest of your life... That takes a stomach much stronger than you'll ever have."
"We'll see about that."
"No. He's right. We do not possess the Cardassians' gift for inflicting pain. Nor would we want such a gift."
- - Dukat, Amaros, and Sakonna
"They have weapons, you have weapons – everyone has weapons, but right now, no one has a clear advantage! So the price of peace is at an all-time low. This is the perfect time to sit down and hammer out an agreement. Don't you get it? Attacking the Cardassians now will only make peace more expensive in the long run! Now, I ask you, is that logical?"
- - Quark, to Sakonna
"I don't understand, you're a Cardassian!"
"I'm not just any Cardassian. I'm Gul Dukat, Commander of the Second Order."
- - Drofo Awa and Dukat
"I believe her."
"Why? Because Vulcans don't lie?"
"As a rule they don't."
"They don't blow up ships either, as a rule."
- - Sisko and Dukat
"Legate Parn's ship just put in at Docking Bay Five. Maybe you'd like to give the same speech to him."
- - Kira, to Sisko
"All right. But first I want to make it clear that I was led astray by Sakonna's feminine wiles."
- - Quark
"Besides I'm afraid the place has lost its charm since the last time I was here."
- - Legate Parn to Sisko about DS9
Background Information
- In this episode, we see a Klingon member of the Maquis, perhaps foreshadowing B'Elanna Torres, and also a Native American Maquis portrayed by the same actor who appeared as a member of the Dorvan V tribe in "Journey's End", perhaps foreshadowing Chakotay.
- A line cut from the episode stated that Hudson and Sisko had once played dom-jot on Pelios Station against two Zakdorn on the suggestion of Curzon Dax. The two Starfleet officers clearly lost and Curzon told them that he had placed a high bet on the Zakdorn.
- This is the first episode to introduce some ambiguity in relation to the character of Gul Dukat. Dukat had appeared five times prior to this episode (in "Emissary", "Duet", "The Homecoming", "Cardassians", and "Necessary Evil"), but had predominantly been depicted as a villain. In this episode, his character is fleshed out, particularly in the scene where he is speaking to the Xepolite hetman. After his conversation, Dukat notices that Kira is looking strangely at him and he smiles to himself. This ambiguity as to Kira's attitude toward Dukat would remain a recurring theme for the duration of the show, perhaps seen at its most ambiguous in the fourth season episode "Return to Grace". However, despite this ambiguity, Nana Visitor herself never wavered from maintaining that there could never be any kind of romantic relationship between Kira and Dukat: "To Kira, Dukat is Hitler. She's not ever going to get over that. She can never forgive him...she will always hate Dukat." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- Referenced Rules of Acquisition: #3 ("Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to")
- Dukat's line that "on Cardassia, the verdict is always known before the trial begins" became the basis for the episode "Tribunal".
- Ira Steven Behr is extremely proud of this episode and considers it to be one of the most important early episodes in establishing the darker Star Trek ideology for which Deep Space Nine would become famous. In particular, he refers to Sisko's speech to Kira, and the line "it's easy to be a saint in paradise", as expressing a much less optimistic view of humanity than had ever before been presented in Star Trek. Behr has said he always wanted to dig deeper into Starfleet, to see what Earth was really like, and to examine the paradise that Gene Roddenberry had envisioned. Indeed, he wanted to do this on The Next Generation but was never allowed; "I'd been waiting to say that line in Star Trek for a long time. We need to dig deeper and find out what, indeed, life is like in the twenty-fourth century. Is it this paradise, or are there, as Harold Pinter said, "Weasels under the coffee table." Sisko's speech in this episode was the beginning of our really starting to question some of the basic tenets of Star Trek philosophy. Because, yes, it's a paradise - but so what?" (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) This theme of examining the most basic elements of Star Trek philosophy would return in Quark's speech about the Federation in the episode "The Jem'Hadar", in the third season "Past Tense, Part I"/"Past Tense, Part II" two-parter, in the fourth season "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" two-parter, in Michael Eddington's comparison of the Federation to the Borg in the episode "For the Cause", in the character of Richard Bashir in the fifth season episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", and would ultimately culminate in the creation of Section 31 for the sixth season episode "Inquisition".
- At the end of the episode, Kira tells Sisko he prevented a war, but Sisko wonders if he really did or had he only delayed the inevitable. By the end of the fifth season, the answer is known.
- Sisko would discover in the fifth season episode "Blaze of Glory" that Cal Hudson has been killed by the Jem'Hadar. That episode would also see the last activity of the Maquis, which has been wiped out due to the increased military presence in the DMZ brought about by Cardassia joining the Dominion.
Video and DVD releases
- UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 21, 5 September 1994.
- As part of the DS9 Season 2 DVD collection.
Links and References
Main Cast
- Avery Brooks as Commander Benjamin Sisko
- Rene Auberjonois as Constable Odo
- Siddig El Fadil as Doctor Julian Bashir
- Terry Farrell as Lieutenant Jadzia Dax
- Colm Meaney as Chief Miles O'Brien
- Armin Shimerman as Quark
- Nana Visitor as Major Kira Nerys
Guest Stars
- Tony Plana as Amaros
- John Schuck as Legate Parn
- Natalija Nogulich as Admiral Alynna Nechayev
- Bertila Damas as Sakonna
- Michael Bell as Drofo Awa
- Amanda Carlin as Kobb
- Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat
Special Appearance By
Co-Star
Uncredited Co-Stars
- Sam Alejan as a medical officer
- Majel Barrett as Narrator
- Kevin Grevioux as a security officer
- Chuck Madalone as a Maquis guard
- Tom Morga as a Maquis guard
- Robin Morselli as a Bajoran officer
- Jeff Pruitt as a Maquis guard
- Unknown performers as
Uncredited Stunt doubles
- Dennis Madalone as stunt double for Tony Plana
- Joe Murphy as stunt double for Marc Alaimo
- Lynn Salvatori as stunt double for Bertila Damas
References
Admiral; Bajor; Bok'Nor; Bryma; Captain; Cardassia; Cardassian; Central Command; crime; deflector shield; Demilitarized Zone; deuterium; disruptor; docking bay; Earth; evasive maneuvers; Federation; Federation Code of Justice; Ferengi; Rules of Acquisition; Graduation Day; Hakton VII; Hetman; landing pad C; lobe; maneuvering thruster; Maquis; M-class; Mekong, USS; nacelle; navigational array; Orinoco, USS; paradise; particle accelerator; photon torpedo; piracy; poverty; primary fusion core; propulsion system; pulse cannon; regrean wheat; Rio Grande, USS; Saltah'na clock; Second Order; shapeshifter; Starfleet Academy; subspace distortion; supply depot; tractor beam; Umoth VIII; Vulcan; Vulcan mind meld; war; warp drive; warp engine; weapons array; Xepolite; Xepolite freighter
External links
- Template:NCwiki
- The Maquis at Wikipedia
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