| 1. | | The Way of the Warrior |  The crew of Deep Space Nine is preparing for a possible attack by the Dominion. There's a drill to find a shape-shifters and the station is retrofitted. Suddenly a ship decloaks. It's the Klingon general Martok and he's not alone. An entire Klingon fleet has been stationed nearby. Sisko welcomes them and Martok claims the fleet is at Deep Space Nine to fight with the Federation against the Dominion. Soon the trouble starts. The Klingons harass Morn, they beat up Garak and try to hijack Kasidy Yates' ship to look for shape-shifters. They continue checking ships outside of Bajoran space after. Sisko doesn't trust it anymore and asks the only Klingon in Starfleet, Worf, to find out what the Klingon fleet really is up to. více |
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| 2. | | The Visitor |  Jake Sisko, now an old man, is living alone in a house in a bayou. He gets an unexpected visit from Melanie. She's an aspiring writer and considers Jake as her favorite author. She was surprised he published only two works. At the age of 40, Jake simply stopped writing and Melanie wants to know why. Jake starts telling her the story of how his father died in an accident on the Defiant. Benjamin and Jake went to see the wormhole undergo a subspace inversion, that only happens once in several decades. Something was wrong however and the warp core was about to breach. After repairing it, Sisko was hit by a beam and disappeared. Few months later things were returning to normal for Jake, but suddenly he saw his father in his bedroom, only to disappear a moment later. But this wasn't the only time his father reappeared. více |
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| 3. | | Hippocratic Oath |  Bashir and O'Brien have concluded a bio-survey in the Gamma Quadrant. They pick up a subspace magneton pulse. While investigating, the shuttle crash lands and they are taken prisoner by a renegade group of Jem'Hadar. Its leader, Goran'Agar, got free of his addiction to ketracel white on this planet, the drug that makes them dependent on the Founders. He's brought a group of Jem'Hadar to be cured too, but the planet's 'magic' doesn't work on them. He asks Bashir to help before their supply of white runs out. While the doctor wants to help them, O'Brien is adamantly opposed. Meanwhile, back on the Deep Space Nine station, Worf spots a known criminal in Quark's bar. He thinks the Ferengi is plotting something and is getting increasingly agitated by the way Odo handles security on the station. Worf decides to take matters into his own hands. více |
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| 4. | | Indiscretion |  Major Kira gets a message from Razka Karn, a smuggler during the occupation. He claims to have a found a lead to the location of the lost Cardassian prison ship Ravinok. One of her friends, Lorit Akrem, was on board and she decides to start an investigation. Then Sisko approaches her and asks her to wait. The Cardassian government has heard of her plans and wants to send a representative along. Kira is surprised to see it is Gul Dukat. He has a secret. Meanwhile, Sisko faces a problem of his own: Kasidy Yates announces she found a job opportunity in the Bajoran sector. She and the captain will be finally able to see each other more. Dax makes the suggestion she could get Kasidy quarters on the station. Kasidy likes the idea, but Sisko gets more and more uncomfortable. It's going a bit too fast for him and Kasidy notices his hesitation. více |
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| 5. | | Rejoined |  A science team of Trills comes to visit the station to do a test on creating artificial wormholes. The leader of the team is Dr. Lenara Kahn, a joined Trill. The former host of the Kahn symbiont was Nilani. She was the wife of Torias, one of Dax's former hosts. On Trill, it is strictly forbidden to re-associate with a past lover. The punishment is exile, meaning the symbiont will die. To avoid problems, Sisko offers Jadzia Dax to take extended leave. She denies and thinks she's up to the task. But when Jadzia and Lenara start working on the science project, they both seem to get along really well. While they try deny it at first, the romantic spark between them isn't gone. více |
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| 6. | | Starship Down |  Captain Sisko is asked to mediate on the Defiant between the Karemma and the Ferengi. Hanok, its representative, finds there's little profit in trading with them. Quark has made up all sort of non-existent fees and Sisko is not amused. Then two Jem'Hadar ships suddenly attack the Karemma ship. It tries to flee into a gas giant planet with dangerously high wind speeds, but the Jem'Hadar still follow. Sisko orders the Defiant to go after them to help the Karemma. With barely no sensors and the phasers inactive, the crew must be creative. The situation brings contemplation. Quark is joined by Hanok in the mess hall. He tries to make things well with the Karemma, Bashir and Dax are trapped and they discuss the crush the doctor had on her. Kira reevaluates her relationship with Sisko as both captain and the Emissary, while Worf learns a few things about command. více |
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| 7. | | Little Green Men |  The episode opens with Rom explaining a Ferengi ritual to patrons at Quark's bar, where a Ferengi going on a journey sells much of their possessions. As Rom's son, Nog, is destined to travel to Earth to enroll in Starfleet Academy, he is selling off most of his possessions as per the custom. Worf buys a Ferengi tooth sharpener, and Kira is interested in buying a holosuite sports racket only to realize that it is hers-- Nog had swiped it from her quarters. Rom decides to keep a pair of his son's pajamas for himself.Quark pulls Rom away from the sale to tell him of a windfall he's just come in to: Quark's insidious, weaselly cousin, Gaila, is finally fulfilling a promise he made Quark ten years ago; buying Quark his own ship in return for financing a weapons business venture Gaila was setting up. The ship has just been delivered to Deep Space NIne and Quark needs Rom to give it a thorough examination to make sure it isn't faulty or derelict-- Quark never trusted Gaila and still doesn't. But Rom, after going over the ship meticulously, pronounces it completely spaceworthy and in excellent working order. Quark decides to make his new ship's maiden voyage a trip to Earth to bring Nog to Starfleet Academy-- with intention to make an underground contraband deal on the way.Quark appoints Morn to run the bar in his stead while he's away, warning him sternly to keep an eye on Odo because Odo will be doing likewise to Morn. Nog and Jake reminisce about their friendship together even since Captain Sisko took command of Deep Space Nine, spending one last time hanging out together on the upper Promenade just watching pedestrian traffic through the area. Dr. Bashir and Chief O'Brien give Nog a going-away present: a datapad that will serve as an interactive guide book on Earth culture.On the ship, piloting it toward Earth, Rom makes small talk with Quark and Nog, as Nog studies the guide book. Rom reveals he's found out that Quark is smuggling a highly volatile mineral called Kemacite in the ship's cargo hold, intending to sell it in the Orion system en route back to Deep Space Nine. Quark must (very reluctantly) promise both Rom and Nog a cut of the profits from the sale in return for their silence. Quark gets very impatient to finish the trip and Rom accelerates the shuttle's warp speed.As the ship nears Earth, Rom prepares to leave warp speed, only to find that the command sequencer responsible for handling the warp drive is not responding. This makes no sense to Rom, as he had given the ship a complete examination prior to departure from Deep Space Nine... until he realizes to his horror that the reason the sequencer didn't show as faulty, was because it was most likely BUILT to fail-- a measure Gaila had taken in anticipation of Quark's suspecting that Gaila would betray him. Now the ship is stuck in accelerating warp speed until the ship is torn apart from the stress. As panic starts to set in, Rom comes up with an idea: they need to expose the kemacite to the plasma vent from the warp core, which should create an energy field that will force the ship out of warp, allowing them to make an emergency landing. This being their only hope, they execute the plan.Quark snaps awake to find himself laying on a metal gurney covered to his chest in a white linen sheet. He finds Rom and Nog in similar states beside him and shouts to awaken them.Quark does not know he's being watched-- on the transparent side of a two-way mirror, a U.S. Army captain phones his general, telling him, 'The Martians are awake.' The camera pans to the right of the captain to show a calendar listing the year as 1947.The commanding officer of the army base at Roswell, New Mexico, General Denning (Charles Napier) meets up with Captain Wainwright (James MacDonald) to observe the Ferengi as they come to and try to figure out where they are. They watch Quark pound on the locked door hoping it will attract someone's attention. Denning has arranged for a professor named Jeff Carlson (Conor O'Farrell) to initiate contact with the aliens. Carlson is a gifted linguist who also happens to be engaged to a pretty Army nurse on the base named Garland (Megan Gallagher).Carlson, Wainwright and Garland enter the room to meet Quark, Rom and Nog. Listening to the greeting, the Ferengi realize they can't understand the humans-- their universal translator devices must be malfunctioning. Their translators are placed within their inner ears, and the Ferengi start hitting their foreheads hoping to jar the translators back online. The humans, of course, don't understand the Ferengi either and think that perhaps that the gesture is their way of saying hello, so they begin to copy the gesture. When Nog tells Rom and Quark that he recognizes from Wainwright's uniform that they've been warped back in time to 20th century Earth, before humans had universal translators, Quark realizes that the humans are simply mimicking them. He pinches and wiggles his nose to test the theory and laughs in smug delight as he sees Wainwright copy the gesture. Quark is convinced that the 20th century humans are utter morons and completely primitive.Garland takes Quark's blood pressure and finds that Ferengi physiology is different enough from human physiology that she will have no idea what to make of the results of the exam. She observes Rom trying to reset Nog's universal translator and deduces that they are father and son, though she mistakes Rom's actions as a grooming ritual. Still, she is pleased to discover that these aliens have a family structure similar to humans. Quark is offended by the smell from Denning's cigar, but is delighted at Nog's explanation that the smell is coming from an Earth herb named tobacco that poisons the human body over time. If these humans would buy poison, they'd buy anything. Thoughts of returning to his own time back in Deep Space Nine quickly fade away as he sees himself setting up a business empire on Earth that will let him rule the world... soon as the universal translators are fixed and he can begin communicating.Rom notices Garland adjust her hairpin and quickly points at her, shouting in Ferengi. Although Garland and Carlson cannot deciper the language, Carlson sees that Rom is pointing at Garland's hairpin and realizes that Rom wants Garland to give it to him. Garland complies, but she winces when she sees Rom stick the hairpin into Nog's ear, not knowing that Rom is trying to use it to hit the reset switch on Nog's universal translator.Carlson steps outside to confer with Denning and Wainwright. President Truman has been informed about the Ferengi (who everyone that's 'in' on the contact, still believe are Martians), and is getting impatient about learning what they are up to. Too many people know about the aliens and there is concern about them being scouts for a possible attack on Earth. Carlson strokes the fur of a K-9 German Shepherd dog as he quietly reflects on the Ferengi, saying he doesn't believe their intentions are hostile.Suddenly Garland steps outside of the building and tells Carlson, Denning and Wainwright that they need to come back inside right away. They enter the room where the Ferengi are being kept and hear Quark tell them his name and that he is here with a business proposition for them.Quark explains the universal translators to Denning and that Rom has finally gotten them back in working order, which is what allows them to communicate with each other. Launching into his smoothest sales pitch, Quark tries to make a business arrangement with Denning, offering to sell technology to the humans that can do things they'd never dreamed of. Denning doesn't buy the pitch, becoming even more suspicious when Quark resignedly says that if the Americans won't do business, maybe another country on the planet will (Denning immediately believes Quark is specifically talking about the Russians, as the Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. was in full swing). Denning announces that the U.S. President must authorize any actions on his behalf and he leaves the room.Nog tries to warn Quark about changing human history, that selling 24th century technology to 20th century Earth could alter the timeline in a way that would result in Deep Space Nine-- and Quark's bar there-- no longer existing. Of course, Quark sees no reason to want to return to his time if he can make a business arrangement that would have him practically ruling a business empire over the whole world.The K-9 dog begins to bark, disrupting the conversation. Quark stares at the dog in irritation, not knowing exactly what kind of creature it is. The dog suddenly walks over to Quark and stands on its hind legs, putting its front paws on Quark's shoulders-- and morphs into Odo.Odo never believed for a minute that Quark was making the trip to Earth just to bring Nog to Starfleet; nephew or not... he stowed away aboard the ship and knows about the kemacite. Odo tells Quark, Rom and Nog that he knows that the longer they stay in 20th Century Earth, the more likely they are to get into serious trouble. Odo knows that Quark's ship is being stashed in a hangar on the base, and they must find a way to get to it as quickly as possible. In order to remain undetected and to discreetly gather more information that will help in the escape break, Odo changes back into the K-9 dog.Outside, Wainwright and Denning are talking. After further conferring with President Truman, it's been decided that the Ferengi must be interrogated and their motives learned through whatever means possible. Denning authorizes Wainwright to conduct the interrogation. He enters the holding room with soldiers and quickly snap burlap sacks over Quark, Rom, and Nog's heads.The three Ferengi are tied to chairs. Quark screams in agony as Garland injects him with sodium penathol for the fifth time, resignedly telling Wainwright that it is having no effect due to the differences in body chemistry. Wainwright decides to try some good old-fashioned intimidation, picking up a scalpel and holding it to Quark's throat. He muses about which Ferengi to use it on first, finally putting the scalpel to Rom's neck. Breaking down in fear, Rom tries to tell Wainwright the truth that they are from the future and arrived in the 20th century by a freak accident, and he desperately wants to go home. But Nog, seeing that Wainwright is convinced that they are scouts for a 'Martian' invasion, tries to jockey for advantage by admitting that Earth is about to be attacked, shrugging off any fear of reprisement because Earth's primitive weapons will be no match for the invasion fleet. He asks to be untied so he can point out initial enemy landing sites on a map on the wall. As Wainwright leans in for a closer look where Nog is pointing, Nog puts his rudimentary combat training to use, hitting Wainwright in the groin and taking him out. Carlson and Garland, who believe Rom's story and that the Ferengi are no threat whatsoever, bonk the other soldiers on the head from behind. They rush to a jeep with Quark, Rom and Nog in tow. Garland has an alibi ready to escape disciplinary action: that the Ferengi used insidious mind-control powers to force them into compliance (Quark is begrudgingly impressed at the idea).As they near the hangar where Quark's ship is stashed, they are stopped by General Denning and two other soldiers who have automatic weapons at the ready. Pretending that his finger can discharge a death ray that will destroy Garland, who obligingly poses as a hostage, Quark buys enough time for Odo to come up from behind General Denning, and incapacitate both he and the two soldiers.Carlson and Garland get the Ferengi and Odo to the hangar. Rom has come up with a plan to create a replica of the energy field that sent them back through time: there is still some kemacite in the cargo hold; if it can be exposed to a sufficient energy discharge, Rom can manipulate the reaction to create a reverse time warp that should return them to the 24th century. Carlson and Garland tell them that an atomic bomb detonation is scheduled to be tested in Nevada in seven minutes. Rom assures them that the ship is fast enough to reach the test site in time. As they watch the ship take off, Carlson and Garland muse about humanity joining the "Federation of Planets..." and laugh, showing neither of them truly believe it.Wainwright and Dennings also observe the aliens escaping. All the public will ever know that that the Army found nothing more than a crashed weather balloon.Quark's ship emerges from the reverse warp. As he, Rom, Nog and Odo come to, they find they are in orbit around Earth-- and their ship is being hailed. The reverse time warp has worked and they are back in their own time period. Earth Federation control tells Rom that a shuttle will be sent to tow them onto the planet surface.Quark, Rom and Odo are arriving back on Deep Space Nine after Nog has been situated at Starfleet Academy. Quark had to sell his ship for spare parts, which was enough to buy transport passage back to the station with some pocket change left over. But Odo then grabs Quark's arm, announcing he is taking Quark to a holding cell to await trial for smuggling kemacite, even though all of it was consumed in the time warp and there is no physical evidence-- he tells Quark, 'tell that to the arbiter.'The episode ends with Rom smiling in delight as he watches Odo take Quark away. více |
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| 8. | | The Sword of Kahless |  Kor, the Klingon Dahar master and friend of Dax is once again on the station. He hasn't lost his appetite for alcohol and is still capable of telling great tales. Dax introduces him to Worf and Kor tells of a quest he is planning. He has found a clue to the possible location of the Sword of Kahless, the founder of the Klingon Empire. It's been lost for a thousand of years and it is said that when it is found it will once again reunite the Klingon empire. Worf and Kor seem to like each other because they are both opposed to Gowran. Together with Dax they plan to find the relic to turn it over to the Emperor. The two Klingons make it a late celebration. Kor returns to his quarters in a very drunken state, where he is attacked telepathically by a Lethean. více |
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| 9. | | Our Man Bashir |  Sisko, O'Brien, Dax, Worf and Kira are coming back from a tiresome conference. Suddenly there's a power surge in the warp core of the runabout. The ship's been sabotaged and it explodes. Eddington is only barely able to beam them off, but the shock wave damages the transporters. Their patterns are still in the system though and by deleting station's memory Eddington is able to store them. Meanwhile doctor Bashir plays secret agent Bashir, Julian Bashir in a holosuite. He is surprised by the arrival of Garak and finally allows him to join. Then suddenly KGB agent Anastasia Komananov looks like Kira. While Bashir thinks it is another uninvited guest, the truth soon becomes clear. The five crew members have become an integral part of the holo adventure. With the safeties off Bashir has to do his utter best to keep everyone alive, while Eddington and Rom try to solve the problem. více |
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| 10. | | Homefront |  The wormhole is showing erratic behavior by sudden openings and the Bajorans think it's a message from the prophets. Then grave news arrives on Deep Space Nine. There has been a bombing with 27 dead in Antwerp and a changeling has been spotted on the crime scene. The thing most feared has happened: the changelings have reached Earth. The Sisko's and Odo travel to Earth and admiral Leyton makes Sisko acting head of Starfleet Security on Earth. The captain's first task is to convince the president of the Federation, Jaresh-Inyo, to implement harsh security measures. The changelings aren't Sisko's only problem. He also has to deal with his stubborn father, who refuses to follow doctor's advice. Jake meets with Nog who tells him he has problems at the Academy. He doesn't seem to be accepted by a group of elite cadets known as Red Squad. více |
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| 11. | | Paradise Lost |  All power has been cut and president Jaresh-Inyo finally agreed to Sisko and Leyton's request to put Earth under Martial Law. Starfleet security personnel is roaming the streets of every city. It's been four days since then, but still there's no sign of a Dominion invasion. Joseph Sisko decides to reopen the restaurant. Meanwhile Odo brings a strange security report to the attention of captain Sisko. Apparently Red Squad was demobilized just moments after the power was cut. While the two first think that it was to get them out of harm's way, new evidence pops up. Apparently the entire group of cadets was reassigned to field duty three hours later. Sisko gets very suspicious, especially after a Starfleet member asks him to immediately delete the report. He orders Nog to provide him the name of one of the members of Red Squad to conduct an interview. He doesn't like what the cadet tells him. více |
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| 12. | | Crossfire |  Odo's highlight of the day is when Kira visits his office to discuss the latest crime report with a cup of raktajino. It's very obvious to at least Quark he is in love with her. The Bajoran first minister Shakaar is coming for talks with the Federation to the station. It will be a very busy time for Odo, especially after a death threat is received. It's very serious since it's coming from a Cardassian extremist group called True Way, that already succeeded in killing two Bajoran officials. Sisko ups the protection. Odo tries his best to ensure Shakaar's safety, but in the process finds out he has feelings for her. Shakaar even asks Odo if he thinks it is mutual. While he denies it, love seems to blossom nonetheless. He takes her for a stroll, she arrives late at the daily crime report meeting and spends the night in Shakaar's quarters. Odo is devastated and is starting to have a very hard time concentrating on his important duties. více |
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| 13. | | Return to Grace |  Kira has been asked by Shakaar to attend a conference on a remote Cardassian outpost. The two governments will exchange intelligence about the Klingons. The Major will be personally brought to this location by Gul Dukat. Ever since he brought his half Bajoran daughter Ziyal to Cardassia, things haven't been going well for him. He was stripped of his rank and is now a simple freighter captain. But, so he ensures Kira, it is only a temporary setback for him. When Kira arrives in Cardassian space, the outpost has been attacked by a Klingon bird-of-prey. All the diplomats are dead. Kira suggests mounting an outpost disruptor on the freighter to go after the Klingons. While Kira wants revenge for the dead diplomats, Dukat sees this as the perfect opportunity to redeem himself. více |
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| 14. | | Sons of Mogh |  Worf hasn't heard anything from his brother Kurn since chancellor Gowron brought the glory days of the house of Mogh to an end. All of the sudden he arrives on the station and asks Worf to perform the Mauk-to'Vor-ritual. He wants to regain his honor in the next life. Since suicide is out of the question, Kurn believes only Worf is capable of giving him his honor back by killing him. Meanwhile Kira and O'Brien are on their way home. Near the Bajoran border they are startled by a sudden high energy discharge. It looks like a cloaked ship exploded, but there's no debris. When the two want to take a closer look, a Klingon ship stops them. They claim to be conducting military exercises. Kira doesn't trust it, neither does Sisko. He gives permission to take the Defiant for a better look. více |
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| 15. | | Bar Association |  It's the Bajoran time of Cleansing and business is very slow at Quark's bar. Rom's ear is aching up again, he even faints, but gets no sick leave from Quark. When Quark announces a pay cut for all the employees Rom is fed up. On advice from Bashir he decides to start a union, strictly forbidden by Ferengi law. But Rom is determined and convinces all the other employees to join. At first Quark laughs, then finds himself without the striking staff, still he won't give in. Just when captain Sisko orders him to end the strike, liquidator Brunt arrives. Meanwhile Worf still has problems settling on the station. He dislikes that security is less than on the Enterprise, he is annoyed by the continuous technological malfunctions and even gets into a fight with O'Brien and Bashir over entering Quark's bar. Worf sees only one solution. více |
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| 16. | | Accession |  The crew is surprised when the wormhole opens and an ancient Bajoran lightship comes through. Inside is the poet Akorem Laan who disappeared from Bajor over two centuries ago. Laan was rescued by the prophets and now sent back as emissary, so he claims. Sisko doesn't feel like contradicting him since the prophecies seem to suit the story of Laan better. He is also relieved to be finally able to give up the difficult position. But Sisko gets second thoughts when Laan wants to reintroduce the D'jarras, the abolished Bajoran caste system. Meanwhile Keiko returns from Bajor. Molly tells O'Brien she is pregnant. The chief feels compelled to be at home in his free time and stop spending it with Bashir. It's very obvious he misses the holosuite adventures with the doctor though více |
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| 17. | | Rules of Engagement |  The Klingon Empire has asked the Federation to extradite Worf for murder. Worf commanded the Defiant which was guarding a Cardassian convoy offering medical aid to the Pentath colony. The convoy was attacked by the Klingons and in the heat of battle Worf gave the order to fire on a decloaking ship. It was a civilian transport, 441 Klingons died. The Klingon advocate Ch'Pok is trying to prove to admiral T'Lara in a hearing that Worf's bloodlust took over. Ch'Pok has a hidden agenda and he openly admits it. The Klingons see this as the perfect opportunity to gain sympathy and weaken the Federation. Captain Sisko is defending Worf and asks Odo to try to find out why the civilian transport joined the battle. Sisko's defense in the meantime is not going well. With every witness Ch'Pok's reasoning seems more and more plausible. více |
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| 18. | | Hard Time |  O'Brien has been accused by the Argrathi of espionage and has already been sentenced: twenty years jail time in a artificial reality. While O'Brien felt like he was twenty years in a cell, only a couple of hours has passed. But the memories sure feel real for the chief. The crew of Deep Space Nine do their utter best to let O'Brien re-adjust to the 'new' situation, but it is clear the happening has had a major impact on him. He gets increasingly more violent to even his closest friends and refuses to go to a psychiatrist. O'Brien even purposely tells he was alone in his cell, while this clearly isn't true. Something about his cell-mate Ee'Char is bothering him immensely. The fact that a hallucinative Ee'Char hunts him is driving him mad. více |
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| 19. | | Shattered Mirror |  Benjamin and Jake Sisko are surprised by the sudden arrival of Jennifer Sisko from the Mirror Universe. She claims to be here to visit Benjamin and brings good news: the rebels have captured Terok Nor from the alliance. But when the captain returns from a long meeting, he finds the two are gone. Jennifer has taken Jake to the Mirror Universe. Benjamin decides to bring him back, but after arriving finds himself arrested by Smiley. Jennifer has kidnapped Jake so the captain can be forced to help the rebels. Smiley explains that an alliance fleet led by the regent is on their way to the station. The only possible help comes from a copy of the Defiant. Sisko needs to sort out its startup problems and is forced to agree. Meanwhile Jake has no trouble whatsoever with the situation and begins to build a relationship with his mother look-a-like. více |
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| 20. | | The Muse |  Two women arrive on the station. One is a familiar face. Lwaxana Troi comes to visit Odo and announces she is pregnant. She asks for Odo's help. Her husband Jeyal is Tavnian and in Tavnian tradition the sexes grow up apart. She would have to abandon her baby. Odo is reluctant at first, but surprisingly his relationship with Lwaxana blossoms after she shows a lot of interest in shapeshifting. Then Jeyal arrives on the station. The other woman, Onaya, is rather mysterious. She tells she has a weakness for artists and seems very interested in Jake's writing capabilities. She flatters him and offers him to show exercises and techniques. Jake gladly agrees and even skips a trip to the Bajoran outback with his father for a meeting. But Onaya's method seems quite intrusive. She wants something from Jake. více |
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| 21. | | For the Cause |  Deep Space Nine awaits the secret arrival of 12 industrial replicators for the Cardassian government. Sisko fears the Maquis might do something about it and increases security. Eddington and Odo have an unpleasant message for him however. They suspect Kasidy Yates is involved in smuggling for the Maquis. Sisko is angry about the accusation at first. He refuses to let Odo survey her, but finally agrees to a cargo check. Then Kasidy asks him to skip the inspection. Sisko agrees, but sends the Defiant after her. Meanwhile Garak can't keep his eyes of Ziyal and she returns his looks with a smile every time. Garak is still wary though. She is after all the daughter of his archenemy Dukat and under the protection of Kira, who isn't too fond of the tailor either. Then Ziyal offers him a meeting in a Cardassian holosuite program. více |
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| 22. | | To the Death |  A renegade group of Jem'Hadar have captured a Gateway, a device allowing instantaneous transport virtually anywhere. Sisko must lead a combined task force of Federation, Bajoran and loyal Jem'Hadar fighters to destroy the Gateway before it can be used on missions of conquest. více |
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| 23. | | The Quickening |  The Quickening begins with an amusing opener scene where Quark is being called to answer for a series of advertisements from his bar that included tampering with the station's com systems and replicators; a 'class-three' offense under Federation Law. Kira gives him a stern warning that if he doesn't undo the tamperings very quickly, he will answer to her.Kira, Dax and Bashir are in a runabout on a mission to the Gamma Quadrant. They are doing a routine survey mission in the Gavara System. While on their way, Kira picks up a fragmented distress call from a planet; the call says that their planet has been devastated by an attack that has caused massive destruction and casualties. Dax pinpoints the location to a planet in the Teplan system. Since the system lies outside of Dominion space, Kira and Dax agree to investigate.Dax and Bashir beam down to the planet's surface. Quickly they see just how severe the destruction to the world is; the city lies in utter ruin; its survivors eking out a bleak day to day, hand-to-mouth existence. People stare at them as they make their way down a dirt street. Suddenly a woman staggers up to them, pleading for them to take her to someone named Trevean. Her body is covered with horrible red welt lesions. Dax hurries off to find this Trevean while Bashir tries to administer a medicine to ease the woman's pain. Squatting down beside Bashir, a bald, cynical man named Epran (Dylan Haggerty) tells him that he sees Bashir is not from this world. He explains that "The blight has quickened" in the woman, and there's nothing Bashir can do. Epran's best advice for Bashir is to leave the planet and leave the people to their desperate existence, as there's nothing he can do for them.Dax makes her way back to Bashir. The painkiller he administered to the stricken woman is having no effect, as her people's physiology is very different from Earth humans, even though the people closely resemble humans. Dax has traded her hair clip to someone in return for getting transportation to bring the woman to the hospital where the man named Trevean works.At the hospital, two workers take the stricken woman and bring her to Trevean (Michael Sarrazin). Meeting Trevean for the first time, Bashir and Dax see an elderly man lift a cup in toast to Trevean and thank him for all Trevean has given him in this one day since he woke up and found he'd 'quickened.' Trevean explains to Bashir and Dax that a little over 200 years ago, his world was much like any federation world; they built vast cities and explored space. Then the Jem'Hadar found them and demanded their enslavement to the Founders. When the world refused, the Jem'Hadar destroyed their civilization, and then to make the planet and its people an example to all other worlds, they infected the survivors with a horrible biologically-engineered disease-- the Blight. The disease is absolutely fatal and incurable; most do not live to bear children of their own. They are all born with lesion markings. At some random point in their lives, the Blight 'quickens' and the lesions turn red with inflammation. At this point the person's remaining days before death are filled with pain and suffering. Despite this, Bashir and Dax are outraged to find the man who had toasted Trevean, suddenly begin death convulsions-- Trevean works as a suicide doctor, giving 'quickened' patients a fast-acting poison as a form of euthanasia. The 'patients' die peacefully, painlessly, surrounded by whatever family and friends are available to attend their assisted suicides. Having lived this way with no hope of a better life for 200 years has made the people of this world hardened and unsympathetic to Bashir's protests, and they tell him curtly that they want him to leave the hospital and then leave their planet.Dax scrounges about the city ruins and finds that the distress beacon is located in an abandoned building; still running from its own power source. She has deduced that the message was first sent out shortly after the Jem'Hadar attack 200 years ago, running fully automated, and in the many years since then, the planet's people have forgotten all about it. Eking out their bleak existence with no hope has made them unwelcoming to strangers. Bashir decides that he cannot help these people, especially on account that they don't want his help; believing all his efforts will be fruitless. He tells Dax they should do as the people want, and leave the planet and continue on their way.But at that moment, one person comes up to them in the hope that perhaps they can do something. The woman's name is Ekoria (Ellen Wheeler), and she is pregnant; due to deliver her baby in two months. She tells Bashir that unlike most of the people, she is willing to put a show of faith in any doctor who might want to try and help them, and she knows that there are some others, even if just a few, who would welcome him as well.Just at that moment, Kira signals Dax to warn them that two Jem'Hadar ships are headed toward her runabout. Jem'Hadar weapons being devastating enough to the Federation's most advanced combat starships, their simple Federation runabout would be helpless.Dax and Bashir beam up and Kira analyzes the flight path of the Jem'Hadar ships; they appear to be flying a standard patrol route which will brng them close enough to the planet to spot their runabout soon. She promises Bashir that when they get back to Starfleet, they can start putting together a relief effort. But Bashir reminds Kira that on another remote planet, he needed only one hour to identify a pathogen that was wiping out people by the thousands, and only three days to dose the water table to inoculate the entire population. Kira's plan for a relief effort would take weeks and allow untold deaths and suffering in the meantime, that Bashir might be able to prevent. Dax and Kira decide it's worth a try. Kira will beam Bashir and Dax back down to the planet and fly to a nebula that will shield the runabout from Jem'Hadar sensors. In a week she'll return, and hopefully Bashir will have a cure for the Blight by then.Ekoria takes Bashir and Dax in, giving them a small space in her home. Bashir sets to work immediately, Ekoria herself being their first volunteer patient. From a tissue sample, Bashir needs little time positively isolating and identifying the virus that causes the Blight, meaning he can now begin work on developing an antigen to combat it. Ekoria smiles hopefully at the news. Hesitating briefly, she starts unpacking jarred and canned supplies, offering Bashir and Dax a meal. Dax realizes there's something Ekoria's not telling them, and finally she admits she'd been stockpiling the food for some time, saving it for her death when it was time for her to go to Trevean for her euthanasia. But she now has a sense of hope that she won't need to do that anymore.Bashir and Dax go out in search of volunteers but find none. Epran happens to bump into Bashir and Ekoria, and mocks Bashir in front of a small crowd. Bashir finds a boy with one arm in a sling and demonstrates his medical prowess by healing the fractured bones quickly. He tells the crowd that he is making no promises to the people but he desperately wants to do whatever he can. Trevean arrives on the scene, sternly warning Bashir that many other people have come from other worlds, offering help, taking food and clothing in return for their various elixirs that did nothing but send the people who took them, straight to Trevean for release from their suffering. If Bashir DID make any promises that didn't pan out, Trevean's people have begun to deal with them with very harsh brutality.Back at Ekoria's home, she tells Bashir that her people have developed into far more than having lost all sense of hope-- their living conditions and the suffering caused by the Blight have caused them to actually begin to worship death. From the moment they are old enough as children to understand the Blight and its effects, all of their bleak, desperate existences are centered around preparing for their assisted suicides at Trevean's hospital. Ekoria herself used to wake up each morning praying that she'd quickened, because her euthanasia would be the one day of her life that she would have true comfort, solace and happiness before she drank Trevean's poison. The day of a person's assisted suicide has become completely ritualized and made into a ceremony almost religious in scale and devotion.What made Ekoria want to look forward to a future was when she became pregnant. Bashir's ultrasound scans have revealed that her baby will be a boy, and Ekoria's purpose in life is to be there for her baby son when he's born. Bashir's work on charting the Blight pathogen's life cycle has been difficult and slow due to lack of volunteers to give tissue samples, but he says to Ekoria that he still hasn't given up hope of being able to provide her the lifespan to see not only her son, but eventual grandchildren.At that point, Dax arrives to announce that a small group of people have arrived to donate tissue samples and become patients of Bashir's. Among them is Epran. He's canceled his ritual euthanasia for Bashir's benefit, showing how much he was sacrificing.Julian finally develops a test antigen and administers it to all the volunteers. He and Dax are quietly hopeful, but afraid to speak of their optimism to any of the patients until they are sure that some of them are responding to it. Sometime later, Ekoria tells Bashir that Dax said that Epran's white blood cell count is up 12%, which Bashir assures her is very good news. He amuses Ekoria with a story of how his re-patching up of a stuffed animal that was unraveling from age and use, was what made him devote his life to being a doctor and helping people.But suddenly Dax comes rushing out to tell Bashir that something is wrong. Epran is going into painful convulsions; the Blight pathogen is mutating. Bashir scans him and realizes to his horror that the electromagnetic fields from his medical equipment and instruments is causing it. He urgently shouts for Dax to shut all the equipment down immediately, but it is too late. All of the patients except for Ekoria are experiencing the Blight mutation and wracking them with horrible agony. The mutation still does not slow. Epran suddenly collapses and dies from cardiac arrest. One woman rushes out of the home and returns with Trevean. All the stricken patients beg for him to euthanize them immediately, and he rushes to administer the euthanasia poison to them.Early the next morning, Bashir is bitter. He realizes that the day before the debacle, he had run a scan on Epran and detected an anomaly in his Blight pathogen that Bashir now believes had been a warning of the virus mutation from his medical instruments' emissions. Dax cannot comfort him or convince him to stop blaming himself as much as the suffering people must surely now blame him. Compounding Julian's guilt is a realization that he was arrogant in thinking that he could best the Dominion's most advanced biological weapons, especially in the space of a single week.Disillusioned, Bashir walks through the ruined city waiting for Kira to return and pick him and Dax up to continue on their mission and return home. He finds his way to a mural painted by Ekoria's late husband showing what he envisioned the world to have looked like before the Jem'Hadar attack. As he looks wistfully at it, Ekoria finds her way to him. Her blight has quickened; her lesions are now red and inflamed. Her death is imminent. But she's still grateful to Bashir for giving her a sense of hope she hadn't felt since before her husband died of the Blight. She kisses him goodbye and starts to walk away, but he suddenly calls out to her.Dax and Bashir are back on the runabout with Kira. Bashir tells Kira that he wants to return to the planet and continue his work. Ekoria is the one person on the world who still believes in him and it has made him more driven than ever to work on curing the Blight, even if Ekoria is his only patient. They provide him with a long range communicator to contact the station when he's finished, and they'll send a runabout to pick him up.Bashir works tirelessly, taking care of Ekoria as best he can. Frustrating him is the fact that the antigen he has been administering to her has simply dissipated; there's no trace of it in her bloodstream. He is unsure why, but guesses that her body's immune system has attacked and destroyed it. Ekoria is in pain, but she bravely endures it because Bashir is afraid that there is so much anti-pain medication in her system already, that any more could harm her baby.Ekoria awakes one morning as Bashir is preparing a salve to smear on her skin. She is growing weaker by the day, and she knows she won't make it another six weeks, which is when Bashir says her baby is due. He tells her that within a minimum of two weeks, he can induce labor so her baby has a chance of being born safely.One evening Trevean comes to Ekoria. Concerned that she was too weak to find her way to him, he's come offering to euthanize her, even though it means her baby would die. But even though the child would die from the Blight one day himself, Ekoria wants to see him have some kind of life. Bashir is puzzled at Trevean's obsession with death, as he is apparently the oldest living person on the planet right now. Trevean says simply that because of his age, he's seen more suffering than anyone.The two weeks pass and Bashir has induced labor, helping Ekoria deliver her baby son. When the baby is out, she collapses back on her bed in exhaustion and pain. Bashir examines her baby and breaks out in incredulous delight. The antigen treatment he'd been administering to Ekoria hadn't been fought off by her immune system-- as a pregnant woman, her body routed it directly through her placenta and into her baby. Ekoria's baby son is completely Blight-free; his skin has no traces of any lesions. He will grow up completely healthy and never know the suffering of the terrible disease. He places the baby on Ekoria's breast. She smiles broadly at her baby son with elated happiness and then she quietly dies.Bashir brings the baby to Trevean. He and all his assistants are amazed to see that even if Bashir hasn't found a cure for them, he has a vaccine to protect their children. The vaccine is easy for Trevean to make, and Bashir can provide him all the tools he needs to begin inoculating all pregnant women immediately. Seeing to all of them will be a huge task, but to Trevean, it is a privilege. Trevean steps outside his hospital and holds up the baby boy as a crowd gathers in astonished wonder.Back on Deep Space Nine, Captain Sisko comes in to commend Bashir on his work. Bashir has continued trying to develop a cure for those who still have the Blight, without any success. Despite Sisko's gentle reminder that Bashir has saved the people's children, he still wishes he could have done more for those currently afflicted. více |
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| 24. | | Body Parts |  After a visit to his homeworld and finding out about his impending doom, Quark ponders auctioning off his body parts. Meanwhile, an accident while traveling through the wormhole transfers Chief O'Brien's unborn son from his wife to Major Kira. více |
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| 25. | | Broken Link |  After Garak tries to set up a date for Chalan Aroya, the owner of the Celestial Café, with Odo, the constable is suddenly in severe pain. He has great trouble to hold his shape. Bashir notices his mass and density are in a state of fluctuation. When the fluctuation increases, he gets an attack. While Bashir is optimistic at first, Odo's condition deteriorates. His molecular structure is destabilizing at an alarming rate and the doctor thinks he only has two weeks before he loses his ability to stay solid. Odo and Bashir both know there's only option: going to the Founders. When Garak hears of the planned trip, he requests to come along. He wants to meet with the Founders to inquire about possible survivors of the failed attack on the Founders' home world by the Tal'Shiar and the Obsidian Order. více |
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Sdílet
The crew of Deep Space Nine is preparing for a possible attack by the Dominion. There's a drill to find a shape-shifters and the station is retrofitted. Suddenly a ship decloaks. It's the Klingon general Martok and he's not alone. An entire Klingon fleet has been stationed nearby. Sisko welcomes them and Martok claims the fleet is at Deep Space Nine to fight with the Federation against the Dominion. Soon the trouble starts. The Klingons harass Morn, they beat up Garak and try to hijack Kasidy Yates' ship to look for shape-shifters. They continue checking ships outside of Bajoran space after. Sisko doesn't trust it anymore and asks the only Klingon in Starfleet, Worf, to find out what the Klingon fleet really is up to. 
Jake Sisko, now an old man, is living alone in a house in a bayou. He gets an unexpected visit from Melanie. She's an aspiring writer and considers Jake as her favorite author. She was surprised he published only two works. At the age of 40, Jake simply stopped writing and Melanie wants to know why. Jake starts telling her the story of how his father died in an accident on the Defiant. Benjamin and Jake went to see the wormhole undergo a subspace inversion, that only happens once in several decades. Something was wrong however and the warp core was about to breach. After repairing it, Sisko was hit by a beam and disappeared. Few months later things were returning to normal for Jake, but suddenly he saw his father in his bedroom, only to disappear a moment later. But this wasn't the only time his father reappeared. 
Bashir and O'Brien have concluded a bio-survey in the Gamma Quadrant. They pick up a subspace magneton pulse. While investigating, the shuttle crash lands and they are taken prisoner by a renegade group of Jem'Hadar. Its leader, Goran'Agar, got free of his addiction to ketracel white on this planet, the drug that makes them dependent on the Founders. He's brought a group of Jem'Hadar to be cured too, but the planet's 'magic' doesn't work on them. He asks Bashir to help before their supply of white runs out. While the doctor wants to help them, O'Brien is adamantly opposed. Meanwhile, back on the Deep Space Nine station, Worf spots a known criminal in Quark's bar. He thinks the Ferengi is plotting something and is getting increasingly agitated by the way Odo handles security on the station. Worf decides to take matters into his own hands. 
Major Kira gets a message from Razka Karn, a smuggler during the occupation. He claims to have a found a lead to the location of the lost Cardassian prison ship Ravinok. One of her friends, Lorit Akrem, was on board and she decides to start an investigation. Then Sisko approaches her and asks her to wait. The Cardassian government has heard of her plans and wants to send a representative along. Kira is surprised to see it is Gul Dukat. He has a secret. Meanwhile, Sisko faces a problem of his own: Kasidy Yates announces she found a job opportunity in the Bajoran sector. She and the captain will be finally able to see each other more. Dax makes the suggestion she could get Kasidy quarters on the station. Kasidy likes the idea, but Sisko gets more and more uncomfortable. It's going a bit too fast for him and Kasidy notices his hesitation. 
A science team of Trills comes to visit the station to do a test on creating artificial wormholes. The leader of the team is Dr. Lenara Kahn, a joined Trill. The former host of the Kahn symbiont was Nilani. She was the wife of Torias, one of Dax's former hosts. On Trill, it is strictly forbidden to re-associate with a past lover. The punishment is exile, meaning the symbiont will die. To avoid problems, Sisko offers Jadzia Dax to take extended leave. She denies and thinks she's up to the task. But when Jadzia and Lenara start working on the science project, they both seem to get along really well. While they try deny it at first, the romantic spark between them isn't gone. 
Captain Sisko is asked to mediate on the Defiant between the Karemma and the Ferengi. Hanok, its representative, finds there's little profit in trading with them. Quark has made up all sort of non-existent fees and Sisko is not amused. Then two Jem'Hadar ships suddenly attack the Karemma ship. It tries to flee into a gas giant planet with dangerously high wind speeds, but the Jem'Hadar still follow. Sisko orders the Defiant to go after them to help the Karemma. With barely no sensors and the phasers inactive, the crew must be creative. The situation brings contemplation. Quark is joined by Hanok in the mess hall. He tries to make things well with the Karemma, Bashir and Dax are trapped and they discuss the crush the doctor had on her. Kira reevaluates her relationship with Sisko as both captain and the Emissary, while Worf learns a few things about command. 
The episode opens with Rom explaining a Ferengi ritual to patrons at Quark's bar, where a Ferengi going on a journey sells much of their possessions. As Rom's son, Nog, is destined to travel to Earth to enroll in Starfleet Academy, he is selling off most of his possessions as per the custom. Worf buys a Ferengi tooth sharpener, and Kira is interested in buying a holosuite sports racket only to realize that it is hers-- Nog had swiped it from her quarters. Rom decides to keep a pair of his son's pajamas for himself.Quark pulls Rom away from the sale to tell him of a windfall he's just come in to: Quark's insidious, weaselly cousin, Gaila, is finally fulfilling a promise he made Quark ten years ago; buying Quark his own ship in return for financing a weapons business venture Gaila was setting up. The ship has just been delivered to Deep Space NIne and Quark needs Rom to give it a thorough examination to make sure it isn't faulty or derelict-- Quark never trusted Gaila and still doesn't. But Rom, after going over the ship meticulously, pronounces it completely spaceworthy and in excellent working order. Quark decides to make his new ship's maiden voyage a trip to Earth to bring Nog to Starfleet Academy-- with intention to make an underground contraband deal on the way.Quark appoints Morn to run the bar in his stead while he's away, warning him sternly to keep an eye on Odo because Odo will be doing likewise to Morn. Nog and Jake reminisce about their friendship together even since Captain Sisko took command of Deep Space Nine, spending one last time hanging out together on the upper Promenade just watching pedestrian traffic through the area. Dr. Bashir and Chief O'Brien give Nog a going-away present: a datapad that will serve as an interactive guide book on Earth culture.On the ship, piloting it toward Earth, Rom makes small talk with Quark and Nog, as Nog studies the guide book. Rom reveals he's found out that Quark is smuggling a highly volatile mineral called Kemacite in the ship's cargo hold, intending to sell it in the Orion system en route back to Deep Space Nine. Quark must (very reluctantly) promise both Rom and Nog a cut of the profits from the sale in return for their silence. Quark gets very impatient to finish the trip and Rom accelerates the shuttle's warp speed.As the ship nears Earth, Rom prepares to leave warp speed, only to find that the command sequencer responsible for handling the warp drive is not responding. This makes no sense to Rom, as he had given the ship a complete examination prior to departure from Deep Space Nine... until he realizes to his horror that the reason the sequencer didn't show as faulty, was because it was most likely BUILT to fail-- a measure Gaila had taken in anticipation of Quark's suspecting that Gaila would betray him. Now the ship is stuck in accelerating warp speed until the ship is torn apart from the stress. As panic starts to set in, Rom comes up with an idea: they need to expose the kemacite to the plasma vent from the warp core, which should create an energy field that will force the ship out of warp, allowing them to make an emergency landing. This being their only hope, they execute the plan.Quark snaps awake to find himself laying on a metal gurney covered to his chest in a white linen sheet. He finds Rom and Nog in similar states beside him and shouts to awaken them.Quark does not know he's being watched-- on the transparent side of a two-way mirror, a U.S. Army captain phones his general, telling him, 'The Martians are awake.' The camera pans to the right of the captain to show a calendar listing the year as 1947.The commanding officer of the army base at Roswell, New Mexico, General Denning (Charles Napier) meets up with Captain Wainwright (James MacDonald) to observe the Ferengi as they come to and try to figure out where they are. They watch Quark pound on the locked door hoping it will attract someone's attention. Denning has arranged for a professor named Jeff Carlson (Conor O'Farrell) to initiate contact with the aliens. Carlson is a gifted linguist who also happens to be engaged to a pretty Army nurse on the base named Garland (Megan Gallagher).Carlson, Wainwright and Garland enter the room to meet Quark, Rom and Nog. Listening to the greeting, the Ferengi realize they can't understand the humans-- their universal translator devices must be malfunctioning. Their translators are placed within their inner ears, and the Ferengi start hitting their foreheads hoping to jar the translators back online. The humans, of course, don't understand the Ferengi either and think that perhaps that the gesture is their way of saying hello, so they begin to copy the gesture. When Nog tells Rom and Quark that he recognizes from Wainwright's uniform that they've been warped back in time to 20th century Earth, before humans had universal translators, Quark realizes that the humans are simply mimicking them. He pinches and wiggles his nose to test the theory and laughs in smug delight as he sees Wainwright copy the gesture. Quark is convinced that the 20th century humans are utter morons and completely primitive.Garland takes Quark's blood pressure and finds that Ferengi physiology is different enough from human physiology that she will have no idea what to make of the results of the exam. She observes Rom trying to reset Nog's universal translator and deduces that they are father and son, though she mistakes Rom's actions as a grooming ritual. Still, she is pleased to discover that these aliens have a family structure similar to humans. Quark is offended by the smell from Denning's cigar, but is delighted at Nog's explanation that the smell is coming from an Earth herb named tobacco that poisons the human body over time. If these humans would buy poison, they'd buy anything. Thoughts of returning to his own time back in Deep Space Nine quickly fade away as he sees himself setting up a business empire on Earth that will let him rule the world... soon as the universal translators are fixed and he can begin communicating.Rom notices Garland adjust her hairpin and quickly points at her, shouting in Ferengi. Although Garland and Carlson cannot deciper the language, Carlson sees that Rom is pointing at Garland's hairpin and realizes that Rom wants Garland to give it to him. Garland complies, but she winces when she sees Rom stick the hairpin into Nog's ear, not knowing that Rom is trying to use it to hit the reset switch on Nog's universal translator.Carlson steps outside to confer with Denning and Wainwright. President Truman has been informed about the Ferengi (who everyone that's 'in' on the contact, still believe are Martians), and is getting impatient about learning what they are up to. Too many people know about the aliens and there is concern about them being scouts for a possible attack on Earth. Carlson strokes the fur of a K-9 German Shepherd dog as he quietly reflects on the Ferengi, saying he doesn't believe their intentions are hostile.Suddenly Garland steps outside of the building and tells Carlson, Denning and Wainwright that they need to come back inside right away. They enter the room where the Ferengi are being kept and hear Quark tell them his name and that he is here with a business proposition for them.Quark explains the universal translators to Denning and that Rom has finally gotten them back in working order, which is what allows them to communicate with each other. Launching into his smoothest sales pitch, Quark tries to make a business arrangement with Denning, offering to sell technology to the humans that can do things they'd never dreamed of. Denning doesn't buy the pitch, becoming even more suspicious when Quark resignedly says that if the Americans won't do business, maybe another country on the planet will (Denning immediately believes Quark is specifically talking about the Russians, as the Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. was in full swing). Denning announces that the U.S. President must authorize any actions on his behalf and he leaves the room.Nog tries to warn Quark about changing human history, that selling 24th century technology to 20th century Earth could alter the timeline in a way that would result in Deep Space Nine-- and Quark's bar there-- no longer existing. Of course, Quark sees no reason to want to return to his time if he can make a business arrangement that would have him practically ruling a business empire over the whole world.The K-9 dog begins to bark, disrupting the conversation. Quark stares at the dog in irritation, not knowing exactly what kind of creature it is. The dog suddenly walks over to Quark and stands on its hind legs, putting its front paws on Quark's shoulders-- and morphs into Odo.Odo never believed for a minute that Quark was making the trip to Earth just to bring Nog to Starfleet; nephew or not... he stowed away aboard the ship and knows about the kemacite. Odo tells Quark, Rom and Nog that he knows that the longer they stay in 20th Century Earth, the more likely they are to get into serious trouble. Odo knows that Quark's ship is being stashed in a hangar on the base, and they must find a way to get to it as quickly as possible. In order to remain undetected and to discreetly gather more information that will help in the escape break, Odo changes back into the K-9 dog.Outside, Wainwright and Denning are talking. After further conferring with President Truman, it's been decided that the Ferengi must be interrogated and their motives learned through whatever means possible. Denning authorizes Wainwright to conduct the interrogation. He enters the holding room with soldiers and quickly snap burlap sacks over Quark, Rom, and Nog's heads.The three Ferengi are tied to chairs. Quark screams in agony as Garland injects him with sodium penathol for the fifth time, resignedly telling Wainwright that it is having no effect due to the differences in body chemistry. Wainwright decides to try some good old-fashioned intimidation, picking up a scalpel and holding it to Quark's throat. He muses about which Ferengi to use it on first, finally putting the scalpel to Rom's neck. Breaking down in fear, Rom tries to tell Wainwright the truth that they are from the future and arrived in the 20th century by a freak accident, and he desperately wants to go home. But Nog, seeing that Wainwright is convinced that they are scouts for a 'Martian' invasion, tries to jockey for advantage by admitting that Earth is about to be attacked, shrugging off any fear of reprisement because Earth's primitive weapons will be no match for the invasion fleet. He asks to be untied so he can point out initial enemy landing sites on a map on the wall. As Wainwright leans in for a closer look where Nog is pointing, Nog puts his rudimentary combat training to use, hitting Wainwright in the groin and taking him out. Carlson and Garland, who believe Rom's story and that the Ferengi are no threat whatsoever, bonk the other soldiers on the head from behind. They rush to a jeep with Quark, Rom and Nog in tow. Garland has an alibi ready to escape disciplinary action: that the Ferengi used insidious mind-control powers to force them into compliance (Quark is begrudgingly impressed at the idea).As they near the hangar where Quark's ship is stashed, they are stopped by General Denning and two other soldiers who have automatic weapons at the ready. Pretending that his finger can discharge a death ray that will destroy Garland, who obligingly poses as a hostage, Quark buys enough time for Odo to come up from behind General Denning, and incapacitate both he and the two soldiers.Carlson and Garland get the Ferengi and Odo to the hangar. Rom has come up with a plan to create a replica of the energy field that sent them back through time: there is still some kemacite in the cargo hold; if it can be exposed to a sufficient energy discharge, Rom can manipulate the reaction to create a reverse time warp that should return them to the 24th century. Carlson and Garland tell them that an atomic bomb detonation is scheduled to be tested in Nevada in seven minutes. Rom assures them that the ship is fast enough to reach the test site in time. As they watch the ship take off, Carlson and Garland muse about humanity joining the "Federation of Planets..." and laugh, showing neither of them truly believe it.Wainwright and Dennings also observe the aliens escaping. All the public will ever know that that the Army found nothing more than a crashed weather balloon.Quark's ship emerges from the reverse warp. As he, Rom, Nog and Odo come to, they find they are in orbit around Earth-- and their ship is being hailed. The reverse time warp has worked and they are back in their own time period. Earth Federation control tells Rom that a shuttle will be sent to tow them onto the planet surface.Quark, Rom and Odo are arriving back on Deep Space Nine after Nog has been situated at Starfleet Academy. Quark had to sell his ship for spare parts, which was enough to buy transport passage back to the station with some pocket change left over. But Odo then grabs Quark's arm, announcing he is taking Quark to a holding cell to await trial for smuggling kemacite, even though all of it was consumed in the time warp and there is no physical evidence-- he tells Quark, 'tell that to the arbiter.'The episode ends with Rom smiling in delight as he watches Odo take Quark away. 
Kor, the Klingon Dahar master and friend of Dax is once again on the station. He hasn't lost his appetite for alcohol and is still capable of telling great tales. Dax introduces him to Worf and Kor tells of a quest he is planning. He has found a clue to the possible location of the Sword of Kahless, the founder of the Klingon Empire. It's been lost for a thousand of years and it is said that when it is found it will once again reunite the Klingon empire. Worf and Kor seem to like each other because they are both opposed to Gowran. Together with Dax they plan to find the relic to turn it over to the Emperor. The two Klingons make it a late celebration. Kor returns to his quarters in a very drunken state, where he is attacked telepathically by a Lethean. 
Sisko, O'Brien, Dax, Worf and Kira are coming back from a tiresome conference. Suddenly there's a power surge in the warp core of the runabout. The ship's been sabotaged and it explodes. Eddington is only barely able to beam them off, but the shock wave damages the transporters. Their patterns are still in the system though and by deleting station's memory Eddington is able to store them. Meanwhile doctor Bashir plays secret agent Bashir, Julian Bashir in a holosuite. He is surprised by the arrival of Garak and finally allows him to join. Then suddenly KGB agent Anastasia Komananov looks like Kira. While Bashir thinks it is another uninvited guest, the truth soon becomes clear. The five crew members have become an integral part of the holo adventure. With the safeties off Bashir has to do his utter best to keep everyone alive, while Eddington and Rom try to solve the problem. 
The wormhole is showing erratic behavior by sudden openings and the Bajorans think it's a message from the prophets. Then grave news arrives on Deep Space Nine. There has been a bombing with 27 dead in Antwerp and a changeling has been spotted on the crime scene. The thing most feared has happened: the changelings have reached Earth. The Sisko's and Odo travel to Earth and admiral Leyton makes Sisko acting head of Starfleet Security on Earth. The captain's first task is to convince the president of the Federation, Jaresh-Inyo, to implement harsh security measures. The changelings aren't Sisko's only problem. He also has to deal with his stubborn father, who refuses to follow doctor's advice. Jake meets with Nog who tells him he has problems at the Academy. He doesn't seem to be accepted by a group of elite cadets known as Red Squad. 
All power has been cut and president Jaresh-Inyo finally agreed to Sisko and Leyton's request to put Earth under Martial Law. Starfleet security personnel is roaming the streets of every city. It's been four days since then, but still there's no sign of a Dominion invasion. Joseph Sisko decides to reopen the restaurant. Meanwhile Odo brings a strange security report to the attention of captain Sisko. Apparently Red Squad was demobilized just moments after the power was cut. While the two first think that it was to get them out of harm's way, new evidence pops up. Apparently the entire group of cadets was reassigned to field duty three hours later. Sisko gets very suspicious, especially after a Starfleet member asks him to immediately delete the report. He orders Nog to provide him the name of one of the members of Red Squad to conduct an interview. He doesn't like what the cadet tells him. 
Odo's highlight of the day is when Kira visits his office to discuss the latest crime report with a cup of raktajino. It's very obvious to at least Quark he is in love with her. The Bajoran first minister Shakaar is coming for talks with the Federation to the station. It will be a very busy time for Odo, especially after a death threat is received. It's very serious since it's coming from a Cardassian extremist group called True Way, that already succeeded in killing two Bajoran officials. Sisko ups the protection. Odo tries his best to ensure Shakaar's safety, but in the process finds out he has feelings for her. Shakaar even asks Odo if he thinks it is mutual. While he denies it, love seems to blossom nonetheless. He takes her for a stroll, she arrives late at the daily crime report meeting and spends the night in Shakaar's quarters. Odo is devastated and is starting to have a very hard time concentrating on his important duties. 
Kira has been asked by Shakaar to attend a conference on a remote Cardassian outpost. The two governments will exchange intelligence about the Klingons. The Major will be personally brought to this location by Gul Dukat. Ever since he brought his half Bajoran daughter Ziyal to Cardassia, things haven't been going well for him. He was stripped of his rank and is now a simple freighter captain. But, so he ensures Kira, it is only a temporary setback for him. When Kira arrives in Cardassian space, the outpost has been attacked by a Klingon bird-of-prey. All the diplomats are dead. Kira suggests mounting an outpost disruptor on the freighter to go after the Klingons. While Kira wants revenge for the dead diplomats, Dukat sees this as the perfect opportunity to redeem himself. 
Worf hasn't heard anything from his brother Kurn since chancellor Gowron brought the glory days of the house of Mogh to an end. All of the sudden he arrives on the station and asks Worf to perform the Mauk-to'Vor-ritual. He wants to regain his honor in the next life. Since suicide is out of the question, Kurn believes only Worf is capable of giving him his honor back by killing him. Meanwhile Kira and O'Brien are on their way home. Near the Bajoran border they are startled by a sudden high energy discharge. It looks like a cloaked ship exploded, but there's no debris. When the two want to take a closer look, a Klingon ship stops them. They claim to be conducting military exercises. Kira doesn't trust it, neither does Sisko. He gives permission to take the Defiant for a better look. 
It's the Bajoran time of Cleansing and business is very slow at Quark's bar. Rom's ear is aching up again, he even faints, but gets no sick leave from Quark. When Quark announces a pay cut for all the employees Rom is fed up. On advice from Bashir he decides to start a union, strictly forbidden by Ferengi law. But Rom is determined and convinces all the other employees to join. At first Quark laughs, then finds himself without the striking staff, still he won't give in. Just when captain Sisko orders him to end the strike, liquidator Brunt arrives. Meanwhile Worf still has problems settling on the station. He dislikes that security is less than on the Enterprise, he is annoyed by the continuous technological malfunctions and even gets into a fight with O'Brien and Bashir over entering Quark's bar. Worf sees only one solution. 
The crew is surprised when the wormhole opens and an ancient Bajoran lightship comes through. Inside is the poet Akorem Laan who disappeared from Bajor over two centuries ago. Laan was rescued by the prophets and now sent back as emissary, so he claims. Sisko doesn't feel like contradicting him since the prophecies seem to suit the story of Laan better. He is also relieved to be finally able to give up the difficult position. But Sisko gets second thoughts when Laan wants to reintroduce the D'jarras, the abolished Bajoran caste system. Meanwhile Keiko returns from Bajor. Molly tells O'Brien she is pregnant. The chief feels compelled to be at home in his free time and stop spending it with Bashir. It's very obvious he misses the holosuite adventures with the doctor though 
The Klingon Empire has asked the Federation to extradite Worf for murder. Worf commanded the Defiant which was guarding a Cardassian convoy offering medical aid to the Pentath colony. The convoy was attacked by the Klingons and in the heat of battle Worf gave the order to fire on a decloaking ship. It was a civilian transport, 441 Klingons died. The Klingon advocate Ch'Pok is trying to prove to admiral T'Lara in a hearing that Worf's bloodlust took over. Ch'Pok has a hidden agenda and he openly admits it. The Klingons see this as the perfect opportunity to gain sympathy and weaken the Federation. Captain Sisko is defending Worf and asks Odo to try to find out why the civilian transport joined the battle. Sisko's defense in the meantime is not going well. With every witness Ch'Pok's reasoning seems more and more plausible. 
O'Brien has been accused by the Argrathi of espionage and has already been sentenced: twenty years jail time in a artificial reality. While O'Brien felt like he was twenty years in a cell, only a couple of hours has passed. But the memories sure feel real for the chief. The crew of Deep Space Nine do their utter best to let O'Brien re-adjust to the 'new' situation, but it is clear the happening has had a major impact on him. He gets increasingly more violent to even his closest friends and refuses to go to a psychiatrist. O'Brien even purposely tells he was alone in his cell, while this clearly isn't true. Something about his cell-mate Ee'Char is bothering him immensely. The fact that a hallucinative Ee'Char hunts him is driving him mad. 
Benjamin and Jake Sisko are surprised by the sudden arrival of Jennifer Sisko from the Mirror Universe. She claims to be here to visit Benjamin and brings good news: the rebels have captured Terok Nor from the alliance. But when the captain returns from a long meeting, he finds the two are gone. Jennifer has taken Jake to the Mirror Universe. Benjamin decides to bring him back, but after arriving finds himself arrested by Smiley. Jennifer has kidnapped Jake so the captain can be forced to help the rebels. Smiley explains that an alliance fleet led by the regent is on their way to the station. The only possible help comes from a copy of the Defiant. Sisko needs to sort out its startup problems and is forced to agree. Meanwhile Jake has no trouble whatsoever with the situation and begins to build a relationship with his mother look-a-like. 
Two women arrive on the station. One is a familiar face. Lwaxana Troi comes to visit Odo and announces she is pregnant. She asks for Odo's help. Her husband Jeyal is Tavnian and in Tavnian tradition the sexes grow up apart. She would have to abandon her baby. Odo is reluctant at first, but surprisingly his relationship with Lwaxana blossoms after she shows a lot of interest in shapeshifting. Then Jeyal arrives on the station. The other woman, Onaya, is rather mysterious. She tells she has a weakness for artists and seems very interested in Jake's writing capabilities. She flatters him and offers him to show exercises and techniques. Jake gladly agrees and even skips a trip to the Bajoran outback with his father for a meeting. But Onaya's method seems quite intrusive. She wants something from Jake. 
Deep Space Nine awaits the secret arrival of 12 industrial replicators for the Cardassian government. Sisko fears the Maquis might do something about it and increases security. Eddington and Odo have an unpleasant message for him however. They suspect Kasidy Yates is involved in smuggling for the Maquis. Sisko is angry about the accusation at first. He refuses to let Odo survey her, but finally agrees to a cargo check. Then Kasidy asks him to skip the inspection. Sisko agrees, but sends the Defiant after her. Meanwhile Garak can't keep his eyes of Ziyal and she returns his looks with a smile every time. Garak is still wary though. She is after all the daughter of his archenemy Dukat and under the protection of Kira, who isn't too fond of the tailor either. Then Ziyal offers him a meeting in a Cardassian holosuite program. 
A renegade group of Jem'Hadar have captured a Gateway, a device allowing instantaneous transport virtually anywhere. Sisko must lead a combined task force of Federation, Bajoran and loyal Jem'Hadar fighters to destroy the Gateway before it can be used on missions of conquest. 
The Quickening begins with an amusing opener scene where Quark is being called to answer for a series of advertisements from his bar that included tampering with the station's com systems and replicators; a 'class-three' offense under Federation Law. Kira gives him a stern warning that if he doesn't undo the tamperings very quickly, he will answer to her.Kira, Dax and Bashir are in a runabout on a mission to the Gamma Quadrant. They are doing a routine survey mission in the Gavara System. While on their way, Kira picks up a fragmented distress call from a planet; the call says that their planet has been devastated by an attack that has caused massive destruction and casualties. Dax pinpoints the location to a planet in the Teplan system. Since the system lies outside of Dominion space, Kira and Dax agree to investigate.Dax and Bashir beam down to the planet's surface. Quickly they see just how severe the destruction to the world is; the city lies in utter ruin; its survivors eking out a bleak day to day, hand-to-mouth existence. People stare at them as they make their way down a dirt street. Suddenly a woman staggers up to them, pleading for them to take her to someone named Trevean. Her body is covered with horrible red welt lesions. Dax hurries off to find this Trevean while Bashir tries to administer a medicine to ease the woman's pain. Squatting down beside Bashir, a bald, cynical man named Epran (Dylan Haggerty) tells him that he sees Bashir is not from this world. He explains that "The blight has quickened" in the woman, and there's nothing Bashir can do. Epran's best advice for Bashir is to leave the planet and leave the people to their desperate existence, as there's nothing he can do for them.Dax makes her way back to Bashir. The painkiller he administered to the stricken woman is having no effect, as her people's physiology is very different from Earth humans, even though the people closely resemble humans. Dax has traded her hair clip to someone in return for getting transportation to bring the woman to the hospital where the man named Trevean works.At the hospital, two workers take the stricken woman and bring her to Trevean (Michael Sarrazin). Meeting Trevean for the first time, Bashir and Dax see an elderly man lift a cup in toast to Trevean and thank him for all Trevean has given him in this one day since he woke up and found he'd 'quickened.' Trevean explains to Bashir and Dax that a little over 200 years ago, his world was much like any federation world; they built vast cities and explored space. Then the Jem'Hadar found them and demanded their enslavement to the Founders. When the world refused, the Jem'Hadar destroyed their civilization, and then to make the planet and its people an example to all other worlds, they infected the survivors with a horrible biologically-engineered disease-- the Blight. The disease is absolutely fatal and incurable; most do not live to bear children of their own. They are all born with lesion markings. At some random point in their lives, the Blight 'quickens' and the lesions turn red with inflammation. At this point the person's remaining days before death are filled with pain and suffering. Despite this, Bashir and Dax are outraged to find the man who had toasted Trevean, suddenly begin death convulsions-- Trevean works as a suicide doctor, giving 'quickened' patients a fast-acting poison as a form of euthanasia. The 'patients' die peacefully, painlessly, surrounded by whatever family and friends are available to attend their assisted suicides. Having lived this way with no hope of a better life for 200 years has made the people of this world hardened and unsympathetic to Bashir's protests, and they tell him curtly that they want him to leave the hospital and then leave their planet.Dax scrounges about the city ruins and finds that the distress beacon is located in an abandoned building; still running from its own power source. She has deduced that the message was first sent out shortly after the Jem'Hadar attack 200 years ago, running fully automated, and in the many years since then, the planet's people have forgotten all about it. Eking out their bleak existence with no hope has made them unwelcoming to strangers. Bashir decides that he cannot help these people, especially on account that they don't want his help; believing all his efforts will be fruitless. He tells Dax they should do as the people want, and leave the planet and continue on their way.But at that moment, one person comes up to them in the hope that perhaps they can do something. The woman's name is Ekoria (Ellen Wheeler), and she is pregnant; due to deliver her baby in two months. She tells Bashir that unlike most of the people, she is willing to put a show of faith in any doctor who might want to try and help them, and she knows that there are some others, even if just a few, who would welcome him as well.Just at that moment, Kira signals Dax to warn them that two Jem'Hadar ships are headed toward her runabout. Jem'Hadar weapons being devastating enough to the Federation's most advanced combat starships, their simple Federation runabout would be helpless.Dax and Bashir beam up and Kira analyzes the flight path of the Jem'Hadar ships; they appear to be flying a standard patrol route which will brng them close enough to the planet to spot their runabout soon. She promises Bashir that when they get back to Starfleet, they can start putting together a relief effort. But Bashir reminds Kira that on another remote planet, he needed only one hour to identify a pathogen that was wiping out people by the thousands, and only three days to dose the water table to inoculate the entire population. Kira's plan for a relief effort would take weeks and allow untold deaths and suffering in the meantime, that Bashir might be able to prevent. Dax and Kira decide it's worth a try. Kira will beam Bashir and Dax back down to the planet and fly to a nebula that will shield the runabout from Jem'Hadar sensors. In a week she'll return, and hopefully Bashir will have a cure for the Blight by then.Ekoria takes Bashir and Dax in, giving them a small space in her home. Bashir sets to work immediately, Ekoria herself being their first volunteer patient. From a tissue sample, Bashir needs little time positively isolating and identifying the virus that causes the Blight, meaning he can now begin work on developing an antigen to combat it. Ekoria smiles hopefully at the news. Hesitating briefly, she starts unpacking jarred and canned supplies, offering Bashir and Dax a meal. Dax realizes there's something Ekoria's not telling them, and finally she admits she'd been stockpiling the food for some time, saving it for her death when it was time for her to go to Trevean for her euthanasia. But she now has a sense of hope that she won't need to do that anymore.Bashir and Dax go out in search of volunteers but find none. Epran happens to bump into Bashir and Ekoria, and mocks Bashir in front of a small crowd. Bashir finds a boy with one arm in a sling and demonstrates his medical prowess by healing the fractured bones quickly. He tells the crowd that he is making no promises to the people but he desperately wants to do whatever he can. Trevean arrives on the scene, sternly warning Bashir that many other people have come from other worlds, offering help, taking food and clothing in return for their various elixirs that did nothing but send the people who took them, straight to Trevean for release from their suffering. If Bashir DID make any promises that didn't pan out, Trevean's people have begun to deal with them with very harsh brutality.Back at Ekoria's home, she tells Bashir that her people have developed into far more than having lost all sense of hope-- their living conditions and the suffering caused by the Blight have caused them to actually begin to worship death. From the moment they are old enough as children to understand the Blight and its effects, all of their bleak, desperate existences are centered around preparing for their assisted suicides at Trevean's hospital. Ekoria herself used to wake up each morning praying that she'd quickened, because her euthanasia would be the one day of her life that she would have true comfort, solace and happiness before she drank Trevean's poison. The day of a person's assisted suicide has become completely ritualized and made into a ceremony almost religious in scale and devotion.What made Ekoria want to look forward to a future was when she became pregnant. Bashir's ultrasound scans have revealed that her baby will be a boy, and Ekoria's purpose in life is to be there for her baby son when he's born. Bashir's work on charting the Blight pathogen's life cycle has been difficult and slow due to lack of volunteers to give tissue samples, but he says to Ekoria that he still hasn't given up hope of being able to provide her the lifespan to see not only her son, but eventual grandchildren.At that point, Dax arrives to announce that a small group of people have arrived to donate tissue samples and become patients of Bashir's. Among them is Epran. He's canceled his ritual euthanasia for Bashir's benefit, showing how much he was sacrificing.Julian finally develops a test antigen and administers it to all the volunteers. He and Dax are quietly hopeful, but afraid to speak of their optimism to any of the patients until they are sure that some of them are responding to it. Sometime later, Ekoria tells Bashir that Dax said that Epran's white blood cell count is up 12%, which Bashir assures her is very good news. He amuses Ekoria with a story of how his re-patching up of a stuffed animal that was unraveling from age and use, was what made him devote his life to being a doctor and helping people.But suddenly Dax comes rushing out to tell Bashir that something is wrong. Epran is going into painful convulsions; the Blight pathogen is mutating. Bashir scans him and realizes to his horror that the electromagnetic fields from his medical equipment and instruments is causing it. He urgently shouts for Dax to shut all the equipment down immediately, but it is too late. All of the patients except for Ekoria are experiencing the Blight mutation and wracking them with horrible agony. The mutation still does not slow. Epran suddenly collapses and dies from cardiac arrest. One woman rushes out of the home and returns with Trevean. All the stricken patients beg for him to euthanize them immediately, and he rushes to administer the euthanasia poison to them.Early the next morning, Bashir is bitter. He realizes that the day before the debacle, he had run a scan on Epran and detected an anomaly in his Blight pathogen that Bashir now believes had been a warning of the virus mutation from his medical instruments' emissions. Dax cannot comfort him or convince him to stop blaming himself as much as the suffering people must surely now blame him. Compounding Julian's guilt is a realization that he was arrogant in thinking that he could best the Dominion's most advanced biological weapons, especially in the space of a single week.Disillusioned, Bashir walks through the ruined city waiting for Kira to return and pick him and Dax up to continue on their mission and return home. He finds his way to a mural painted by Ekoria's late husband showing what he envisioned the world to have looked like before the Jem'Hadar attack. As he looks wistfully at it, Ekoria finds her way to him. Her blight has quickened; her lesions are now red and inflamed. Her death is imminent. But she's still grateful to Bashir for giving her a sense of hope she hadn't felt since before her husband died of the Blight. She kisses him goodbye and starts to walk away, but he suddenly calls out to her.Dax and Bashir are back on the runabout with Kira. Bashir tells Kira that he wants to return to the planet and continue his work. Ekoria is the one person on the world who still believes in him and it has made him more driven than ever to work on curing the Blight, even if Ekoria is his only patient. They provide him with a long range communicator to contact the station when he's finished, and they'll send a runabout to pick him up.Bashir works tirelessly, taking care of Ekoria as best he can. Frustrating him is the fact that the antigen he has been administering to her has simply dissipated; there's no trace of it in her bloodstream. He is unsure why, but guesses that her body's immune system has attacked and destroyed it. Ekoria is in pain, but she bravely endures it because Bashir is afraid that there is so much anti-pain medication in her system already, that any more could harm her baby.Ekoria awakes one morning as Bashir is preparing a salve to smear on her skin. She is growing weaker by the day, and she knows she won't make it another six weeks, which is when Bashir says her baby is due. He tells her that within a minimum of two weeks, he can induce labor so her baby has a chance of being born safely.One evening Trevean comes to Ekoria. Concerned that she was too weak to find her way to him, he's come offering to euthanize her, even though it means her baby would die. But even though the child would die from the Blight one day himself, Ekoria wants to see him have some kind of life. Bashir is puzzled at Trevean's obsession with death, as he is apparently the oldest living person on the planet right now. Trevean says simply that because of his age, he's seen more suffering than anyone.The two weeks pass and Bashir has induced labor, helping Ekoria deliver her baby son. When the baby is out, she collapses back on her bed in exhaustion and pain. Bashir examines her baby and breaks out in incredulous delight. The antigen treatment he'd been administering to Ekoria hadn't been fought off by her immune system-- as a pregnant woman, her body routed it directly through her placenta and into her baby. Ekoria's baby son is completely Blight-free; his skin has no traces of any lesions. He will grow up completely healthy and never know the suffering of the terrible disease. He places the baby on Ekoria's breast. She smiles broadly at her baby son with elated happiness and then she quietly dies.Bashir brings the baby to Trevean. He and all his assistants are amazed to see that even if Bashir hasn't found a cure for them, he has a vaccine to protect their children. The vaccine is easy for Trevean to make, and Bashir can provide him all the tools he needs to begin inoculating all pregnant women immediately. Seeing to all of them will be a huge task, but to Trevean, it is a privilege. Trevean steps outside his hospital and holds up the baby boy as a crowd gathers in astonished wonder.Back on Deep Space Nine, Captain Sisko comes in to commend Bashir on his work. Bashir has continued trying to develop a cure for those who still have the Blight, without any success. Despite Sisko's gentle reminder that Bashir has saved the people's children, he still wishes he could have done more for those currently afflicted. 
After a visit to his homeworld and finding out about his impending doom, Quark ponders auctioning off his body parts. Meanwhile, an accident while traveling through the wormhole transfers Chief O'Brien's unborn son from his wife to Major Kira. 
After Garak tries to set up a date for Chalan Aroya, the owner of the Celestial Café, with Odo, the constable is suddenly in severe pain. He has great trouble to hold his shape. Bashir notices his mass and density are in a state of fluctuation. When the fluctuation increases, he gets an attack. While Bashir is optimistic at first, Odo's condition deteriorates. His molecular structure is destabilizing at an alarming rate and the doctor thinks he only has two weeks before he loses his ability to stay solid. Odo and Bashir both know there's only option: going to the Founders. When Garak hears of the planned trip, he requests to come along. He wants to meet with the Founders to inquire about possible survivors of the failed attack on the Founders' home world by the Tal'Shiar and the Obsidian Order. 
