Myriad Universes

So I’ll admit we start with something that does not entirely inspire confidence: Dax and Bashir in handcuffs being escorted to a prison cell by Romulans, with Koleth being processed separately. As Dax argues with the Romuan guards, Doctor Bashir directs her attention to the window, where they can see the Arvas touching down just outside. On Deep Space 9, Maura is making small talk with her new clientele when Kira and a security detachment come in to escort her to the brig, where Commander Sisko is waiting for her. The Commander politely demands Maura tell him what she’s smuggling through his station, motioning in her general direction with a Romulan disruptor pistol. Maura claims she’s smuggling arms to rebels in the Gamma Quadrant, but refuses to disclose the Arvas‘ destination. Sisko and Kira don’t buy it, and Kira snaps and grabs Maura by the nape of the neck. Commander Sisko calms her down, but informs Maura that since Odo is on the Arvas, he’ll hold her personally responsible should anything happen to him and holds her in the brig until she’s willing to talk.

In The Abyss, Dax and Bashir are called to dinner by Commander T’Alar, in charge of the Romulan operations in the Gamma Quadrant. He’s been expecting them, and in fact has been tracking the crew since they left Deep Space 9. Bashir demands to know where Koleth is, but T’Alar ignores him. Dax presses the commander for how he managed to destroy the K’Tang. T’Alar is taken aback, expecting the science officer to be curious as to why, but Jadzia knows why: The Romulans are trying to manipulate the Klingons into going to war with the Cardassians, thus distracting the Federation and holding them back from advancing into the Gamma Quadrant. T’Alar protests that it’s all a defensive measure to prevent the Federation from continuing its policies of imperialistic expansion. Bashir throws a fit, accusing the Romulans themselves of being imperialistic and misunderstanding Starfleet’s intentions out of fear, and gets escorted back to his cell for his troubles. Jadzia continues to make conversation with T’Alar on her own over dinner, leading to one of the single greatest scenes in all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Dax reminisces about a Romulan she met back in the Original Series era, when she was serving on the USS Constellation, triggering a flashback sequence. She tells of how she was in a shuttlecraft with a commodore when they crashed in Romulan territory. They sent out a distress signal that was picked up by a Romulan Bird-of-Prey. The ship’s commander, Pakel, beamed down and rescued them both. Dax initially lied to him about who they were and where they were going, but Pakel assured them that they we not prisoners. Pakel wanted peace between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire, and said it would be a dishnour to him and his people to capture an old man like the commodore. Dax said that she remembers Pakel and his words to this day as model of Romulan honour and integrity.…

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Rom finds an obviously distressed Quark in his quarters, who inquires if his brother has consulted Odo. Though he doesn’t understand what’s going on, Rom answers in the affirmative, and that Odo told him to have Quark meet him at Docking Pylon C. As Quark leaves, he tells Rom to tell anyone who asks about him that he’s “gone on vacation”. At the aforementioned rendezvous point, Quark fills Odo in on the situation involving Maura, namely how she threatened to kill him if he didn’t sell her the bar. Odo agrees to check it out, but advises the Ferengi to do something he didn’t entirely want: Sell Maura Quark’s Bar.

In the Siskos’ quarters, Jake arises early and tells his father he’s worried because everyone around him is convinced the Klingons and the Cardassians will go to war. Ben says “When people believe that strongly in a thing, it makes it that much more likely it will happen” and Jake agrees, saying that’s what he’s told all his friends. But apparently, they’re not listening. Jake hastens to add that he knows his dad is doing everything he can, but Ben confesses he’s frustrated because nobody is listening to him either. Then, Jake gives his father some advice of his own “If they’re not chasing your fastball, throw them your curve. It always works with me”.

After leaving Quark, Odo checks in with Miles O’Brien. Although he’s almost finishing rebuilding the bombed out runabout, he hasn’t gotten any further in figuring out what happened to it in the first place. The saboteurs were so skilled they left no physical evidence behind for the chief to go off of. Odo tells Miles about Maura and her attack on Quark, and they both agree that makes her at the very least a person of interest in the investigation into the assassination of Tal Berel as well. Quark closes the deal with Maura and Delgar via subspace, while Odo monitors the exchange from behind him. Maura closes channels and tells Quark to meet her at 0400, and Delgar to prepare for “stage 2”. Odo and Quark banter, leave Quark’s quarters and begin to go over a plan of their own.

Jadzia Dax records a Captain’s Log entry announcing she and her crew are on their way to The Abyss, and recapping what we learned about it last time. Doctor Bashir is sceptical about the legend of Bahal’s Bird, but Dax reminds him “Most legend has a grain of truth to it”. Koleth, meanwhile, is still convinced the Cardassians destroyed the K’Tang, but Dax reminds him that as a Klingon Attack Cruiser, the K’Tang shouldn’t have gone down as easily as the reports seem to indicate it did. Though the ship’s sensors initially don’t pick up anything unusual, Koleth, Dax and Bashir eventually hit upon the idea of using the data they have to triangulate the origin point for the probe the Klingons picked up, thereby identifying the precise location of the battle where the K’Tang died.…

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There is no time to process what has just happened. No time to even be shocked about it. Not only has the dust not cleared from the explosion onboard the runabout that killed Tal Berel, but it actually hasn’t even finished exploding yet before Kol immediately blames Marok for assassinating the ambassador. An indignant Marok fires back, demanding Kol explain why he feels the Cardassian Empire would have any reason to destroy a Federation runabout and murder a mediator. Kol threatens to kill Marok where he stands, to which the Cardassian diplomat basically says “bring it” before Commander Sisko intervenes, breaking up the fight and imploring the delegations to stand down until an official investigation can be launched.

But Kol is not having it, demanding Sisko and the Federation back the Klingons because of their treaty arrangements. But for his part, Marok tries to manipulate Sisko into siding with the Cardassians, claiming that the Cardassians and the Federation have always been “brothers in spirit”, and transparently threatening him with Gul Dukat’s presence, claiming that he “would hate to see him get a chance to sit down in his old chair again”. Meanwhile in Quark’s, it’s after hours, but the titular Ferengi lets Maura in anyway, and that’s before she reveals she has a case full of gold-pressed latinum, plus more on her ship, that she’s willing to give him if he sells her the bar and leaves Deep Space 9 for good.

In the Gamma Quardrant, Jadzia Dax, Doctor Bashir and Koleth have arrived in orbit around Keltara, the last planet the K’Tang was known to have visited before being destroyed. They beam down to what looks like a frozen wasteland, but then Bashir gets attacked by a giant purple snow beast and is saved by a member of the survey team the K’Tang left behind. Koleth and Dax fill the landing party in on the situation, but the commander is adamant that the Cardassians would never dare make war with the Klingons. Koleth tells the commander that he had privileged access to the K’Tang‘s distress beacon, which claimed that while the Cardassians attacked them, their weapon and defense systems had already been sabotaged prior to their opening volley. Dax is irritated that Koleth didn’t find it necessary to share that information with her and Bashir, his nominal commanding officer and crewmate, but before she can reprimand him the commander of the away team begins to mount a defense of his team, the surviving K’Tang crew. Dax reassures the commander that in no way is she accusing him or his crew, but rather wanted to ask if he knew where the K’Tang was scheduled to go after leaving Keltara, as Captain Krek never filed a proper flight plan. The commander points them to Caldonia 3, the best place to restock and get information on this side of the wormhole.

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Major Kira is holding down the fort in the Ops office, having a heated argument with a woman who demands she be allowed to open an establishment on the Promenade, even though there are no vacancies. It’s Maura, but if you didn’t read “Requiem” you wouldn’t know that. Just as things are about to get ugly, Jadzia Dax pages the Major to tell her they have a little situation she might want to take a look at. The situation in question is a fleet of Klingon warships, who have Deep Space 9 surrounded.

Kira orders Commander Sisko to be brought up to Ops at once, forcing Ben to give Jake and his baseball game yet another rain check. While still in his baseball uniform, Sisko meets with Captain Kol, the commander of the fleet’s flasghip, the ‘Avwi. As a staunch ally of the Federation, Kol offers his support and protection to Deep Space 9, which he claims will be the most strategic location in the forthcoming war with the Cardassian Empire. This takes Sisko somewhat by surprise, as he had been unaware there was a war between the Klingons and the Cardassians. Kol recaps the events of the prologue for anyone who might have missed it, explaining how their cruiser the K’Tang has been missing for several days, and an investigation has led the Klingon High Council to the belief it was destroyed by a Cardassian Galor Warship in an unprovoked attack. While Sisko presses for evidence, Kol is reluctant to provide any, but declares that he and his crew will stand by him no matter what. As Kol leaves, Sisko and Kira are unconvinced even the Cardassians would be brazen enough to provoke war with the Klingons, and they summon the senior staff to conference.

Over subspace, Commander Sisko express concern to Admiral Kernwill that the Klingons will expect the Federation to support them, and the admiral asks him to hold on until the Cardassians can send a delegation, and they can get negotiator Tal Berel to come out of retirement to sort things out. In Ops, Odo complains his security staff is overstretched dealing with the Klingon delegation, let alone having to handle a Cardassian one on a Bajoran station. Miles O’Brien pulls some people from engineering to help in the meantime, and Doctor Bashir offers his help too. Although Odo brushes him off with a snide remark, Sisko says he has a special mission for him: He and Dax will take the Rio Grande into the Gamma Quadrant to conduct their own independent investigation into the K’Tang‘s destruction to find out who really destroyed it and, if the Klingons are right and it was the Cardassians, why. But before they can take off, a Klingon named Koleth reports for duty. He was assigned to the mission by Kol, which annoys Commander Sisko because he didn’t go through him first. But Sisko lets him on, so long as he agrees to be subordinate to Dax.

As Dax, Bashir and Koleth depart through the Bajoran Wormhole, the Cardassian delegation arrives.…

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Major Kira is convinced Malor Ti is still alive, and pages Commander Sisko in the middle of the night to ask if they can set up a team to search engineering for her. Ben is skeptical, but cautiously optimistic and agrees, and has the Major get Odo to assemble a team and allow him to pull anyone from engineering who isn’t currently working on the reactors. In engineering, a stressed Chief O’Brien and Dulath snap at each other, both aware of what’s going to happen if they can’t get the backup reactors online, but they soon calm down and split up to cover more ground.

Odo tells Kira he’s going to personally spearhead the search for Malor Ti, because Kira is “the closest thing” he has to family, but is curious why she’s so important to her. Kira explains that she sees herself in Malor Ti, or rather she sees herself as a young girl, and tells a story about how once when she was seven she witnessed a Bajoran fighter explode in the skies outside her house. Her parents were away at a secret resistance meeting and didn’t tell her in order to protect her, but until they came back Kira thought she had been orphaned and alone. Odo explains that sometimes it’s nice to have a past at all, even if it’s painful one before he turns into a hare and jumps into an air vent to begin the search.

Back in engineering, Miles has called Commander Sisko down to show him something concerning. Namely, that there’s a bomb wired into one of the reactors that was shielded from internal sensors. Had the reactor been activated, the bomb would have ripped the station apart. The senior staff now have the unpleasant task of figuring out who would have been in a position to place the explosive device…Besides Dulath. Sisko and Odo are suspicious of the Cardassian engineer, but Kira and O’Brien don’t think he’s the kind of person who would have done it. Though he’s sympathetic and wants to believe that Dulath is innocent, the Commander will need harder evidence to dispel the shadow cast by all the circumstantial evidence against him. But before they have time to continue the debate, a massive explosion rocks Deep Space 9 as the backup reactor gives way, leaving the station adrift in space.

As Kira, Odo and Bashir rush to handle the chaos on the promenade, Deep Space 9 prepares for general evacuation. But with only three hours of reserve power left, they won’t have enough time to get everyone out safely. Miles heads back down to the engineering section to try a power test of reactor five, but begs Commander Sisko to let Dulath help him: The engineer knows it was his room longer, and nobody knows the station’s schematics as well as he does. With no objections from the rest of the staff, the two engineers make haste, Dulath reminding O’Brien that the station’s survival depends on his instincts being right, and asking him why he trusts a Cardassian.…

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A young Bajoran girl is lying in bed late one night recording an entry for the journal that she’s keeping for a class assignment. Her mother comes in to check on her, but she’s interrupted by the arrival of two Cardassian soldiers. We cut to her stripped naked and hung from the ceiling as the Cardassians demand information from the woman they call “Trika”.

It’s two years later in a holosuite above Quark’s on Deep Space 9. Commander Sisko is playing baseball with Jake when the programme suddenly crashes and is briefly replaced by something from Quark’s pornography collection before the whole thing shuts down. In Ops, Kira informs Sisko that the station’s primary power reactor has just exploded, tearing a sizable hole in the lower decks and leaving the entire city hanging off of limited reserve power. When that goes, Deep Space 9 will be rendered dead in space, leaving everyone aboard to suffocate or starve. Chief O’Brien points the finger at the slipshod cross-wiring and patching employed by the Cardassian engineers to the point he can’t even tell where everything is, or if it can be repaired. Commander Sisko begins investigating how to get some of the station’s non-functional reactor cores on-line to buy O’Brien time to repair the main one, which is an undertaking that could take months. Major Kira suggests it’d be better to instate a full-scale evacuation of the entire city.

Sisko knows O’Brien can do the job, but he also knows he’ll need help. So he calls up Deep Space 9‘s former chief engineer, one Dulath, who served in that position during the occupation when the station was still known as Terok Nor. This is a move that arouses the skepticism of the entire senior staff, most notably Kira and O’Brien, but, confiding in Jadzia Dax, Sisko exposits he’s seen classified documents that reveal Dulath wasn’t terribly popular with his former bosses: Dulath was concerned the reactor cores were leaking sodium at a rate and volume so dangerous the entire station’s population was in danger. Gul Dukat and his administration had hoped to sweep that under the rug, but mounting public pressure eventually forced their hands and the faulty reactors were shut down. But not before Dulath was mysteriously and swiftly reassigned.

Down in the engineering core, Miles and Dulath are beginning to forge a working relationship, albeit a frosty one, outfitted in special radiation suits that come courtesy of Dax. The Chief isn’t too happy about the working conditions for the Bajoran “laborers” (slaves) that worked in these shafts when Dulath was here, though the Cardassian engineer points out that he and his staff always saw to it that they were cared for and treated well when they came to his division. Miles enters a crawlspace to investigate some antimatter pods and makes an astonishing discovery: Someone has carved out an entire living space deep within the reactor array, complete with a portable generator. And inside, there’s a diary. Back in Ops, Commander Sisko gives the journal to Major Kira to translate, and sends Chief O’Brien and Dulath back down into the bowels to come up with an update on the status of the main reactor.…

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