Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1x8

1. I've never seen anything like that.

2. Hmm?

3. I've never seen anything like that.

4. The woman?

5. She was dead.

6. The tricorder clearly showed...

7. Ah, yes, well, tricorders—

8. very accurate with live people

9. not so accurate with dead ones.

10. We learned that first year medical school.

11. Well, I was very impressed, Doctor.

12. Hmm, and well you should have been.

13. I impressed myself on that one, actually.

14. I can't imagine what other doctor

15. would even consider examining the scapular nodes

16. for parasitic infection.

17. I just seem to have a talent, I suppose.

18. A vision that sees past the obvious, around the mundane

19. right to the target.

20. Fate has granted me a gift, Major.

21. A gift to be a healer.

22. I feel privileged to be in your presence.

23. Oh, glad to have you along.

24. Did anyone ever tell you that you're...?

25. Priority one broadband distress signal.

26. Kobliad Transport Ship Reyab to any ship.

27. Our central power linkage has exploded.

28. We're losing life-support.

29. Please respond.

30. Just picking it up on long-range sensors.

31. Bearing 347 mark 08.

32. I'm reading massive energy leakage.

33. Its aft structural integrity field is failing.

34. This is the Federation Ship Rio Grande.

35. We're on our way.

36. O2 pressure is dropping rapidly.

37. Toxic gas levels are rising.

38. We've got no more than ten minutes'

39. breathing time left in here.

40. Automatic fire suppression must be off-line.

41. I'll check the central power linkage.

42. Relax.

43. I'm a doctor.

44. What happened?

45. You lost consciousness.

46. Now listen, is there anyone else aboard your ship?

47. We've got to evacuate it.

48. The pilot is dead.

49. I'm reading another life-form.

50. No, don't open that.

51. It's sealed.

52. The prisoner I was transporting...

53. he started the fire to escape.

54. He's dying.

55. Where is the manual override?

56. No!

57. Stop.

58. Don't!

59. Wait.

60. Don't go in there.

61. He's dangerous.

62. I assure you, in this condition, he's of no threat to anyone.

63. Power linkages are completely shot.

64. Maneuvering subsystems are out.

65. I've managed to stabilize the structural integrity field

66. but I don't know how long it's going to last.

67. We'll have to tow it in.

68. His synaptic field is dissipating.

69. I can't get a neural reading.

70. I have to get him to the emergency unit

71. on the runabout.

72. Computer, four to transport.

73. Make...

74. me...

75. live.

76. This one, I can't bring back.

77. Captioning sponsored by PARAMOUNT PICTURES

78. Where am I?

79. You're on Station DS9.

80. I'm Dr. Julian Bashir.

81. Ty Kajada.

82. Kobliad Security.

83. DS9...

84. but that's where he was going.

85. Where is he?

86. Where is Vantika?

87. Your prisoner?

88. He's dead.

89. You're certain?

90. Yes. You were the only survivor.

91. Where is his body?

92. I have it in stasis.

93. I want to see it.

94. When you're feeling stronger.

95. Now.

96. Preliminary examinations indicated

97. the subject died of a massive respiratory failure

98. brought on by the pulmonary trauma

99. suffered during the fire.

100. Are you sure

101. it's the same body?

102. Quite certain.

103. It's been sealed in here ever since our arrival.

104. Have you run a retinal imaging scan?

105. What for?

106. To confirm that there is no residual activity

107. in the visual cortex.

108. Miss Kajada, I assure you, he is dead.

109. He's faked his death more times than I can tell you.

110. And the last time someone thought he was dead

111. they didn't live to regret the mistake.

112. He was a murderer?

113. That description doesn't begin to do justice

114. to the horrors he's responsible for on my world.

115. He's quite brilliant, in his own way.

116. A man of science

117. who killed others

118. to prolong his own life.

119. I've tracked him for 20 years.

120. Please perform an autopsy.

121. I want his identity confirmed with a DNA reference scan.

122. Uh... of course.

123. And have someone scan my ship.

124. I want to make sure

125. there are no anomalous life-forms on board.

126. Are you sure that's necessary?

127. Very sure.

128. Iced raktajino, extra cream.

129. Thank you, Quark.

130. At your service, day or night.

131. Thanks.

132. Poor woman.

133. She's obviously infatuated with me.

134. You're deluding yourself.

135. There's nothing wrong with a good delusion.

136. I sell them upstairs to dozens of people every day.

137. Besides, there is something in her eyes

138. when she looks at me.

139. Mmm.

140. An allergic reaction, no doubt.

141. I think she's lonely.

142. Dax? She has ten lifetimes' worth of friends to call on

143. before she calls you.

144. And every man on the station

145. would like to be buying her a raktajino.

146. Ah, but I'm the one with the raktajino machine.

147. She seems to prefer

148. spending most of her time alone

149. which I understand perfectly.

150. Then that must make her the perfect woman for you.

151. I wouldn't intrude on her privacy as some would.

152. You're pathetic.

153. You think everyone in the galaxy

154. should be as lonely and as miserable as you are.

155. As hard as it may be

156. for you to understand, some of us like company.

157. The sound

158. of a friendly voice.

159. The sight

160. of a familiar face.

161. The feel of smooth, pliant flesh.

162. Why do you bother?

163. It's good to want things.

164. Even things you can't have?

165. Especially things I can't have.

166. Like the deuridium shipment?

167. Deuridium shipment?

168. Is there a deuridium shipment coming here?

169. I'm watching you, Quark.

170. And I'm watching you, Jadzia.

171. Interesting technique.

172. Do you always get ready for an important operation

173. by leaking word about it to the local black market?

174. How I handle my business is none of your concern.

175. I'm afraid that it is.

176. Lieutenant George Primmin, Starfleet Security.

177. And if you don't mind, I would like to talk to you

178. about the deuridium shipment from the Gamma Quadrant.

179. There's nothing to discuss.

180. Security is already in place.

181. I would appreciate it if we could go over it anyhow.

182. It took me three weeks to get here

183. and I'd hate to think it was for nothing.

184. If you insist.

185. Meet me in my office at 1700 hours.

186. The autopsy revealed

187. nothing out of the ordinary.

188. Fingerprints, cerebral cortex scans

189. retinal patterns all matched up perfectly

190. with the records Kajada provided.

191. Vantika may have faked his death before

192. but I don't think he's faking this time.

193. Why was he coming here?

194. Well, they're Kobliad.

195. The deuridium.

196. I'm sorry...?

197. The Kobliad are a dying race.

198. They need deuridium to stabilize their cell structure.

199. It prolongs their life-span.

200. The Federation's been working to supply them with deuridium

201. but even the new deposits from the Gamma Quadrant

202. aren't enough to service the whole population.

203. It's so scarce

204. that some of the Kobliad have gone underground to get it.

205. So, he was coming here to hijack a shipment?

206. Exactly.

207. Is Kajada satisfied with your autopsy?

208. I don't think anything is going to convince her

209. he's dead, Commander.

210. Vantika has been the focus of Kajada's attention

211. for most of her adult life.

212. In a way, they were as intimately connected

213. as any two beings could be.

214. Let's do her the courtesy

215. of granting her requests

216. as long as they're not too far out of line.

217. A quick sweep of her ship is not too much to ask.

218. I'm more concerned

219. that Vantika might have had help here

220. waiting to hijack the shipment.

221. Ah, Mr. Primmin. Good. In my office.

222. I want to brief you

223. on a security issue that's arisen.

224. I'll get Odo up here.

225. Uh, that's okay, Major.

226. I'll fill him in later

227. on anything he needs to know.

228. How are you getting on with the Constable, Lieutenant?

229. I'm sure he's very good at keeping order

230. down there on the Promenade.

231. But...?

232. Frankly, isn't the security of a deuridium shipment

233. a little over his head?

234. I mean, he was chatting about it in the bar

235. with that Ferengi, Quark.

236. If I could overhear it, so could half a dozen others.

237. It's hard to keep a secret

238. in a place like this, Lieutenant.

239. It's not a starship.

240. I understand that.

241. I'm sure almost everyone knows

242. about the shipment by now.

243. Odo was probably making sure

244. that Quark knows we know he knows.

245. It's not the way they taught us at the Academy, is it, sir?

246. If you want my opinion...

247. Actually, I don't.

248. You and I are guests of the Bajorans, Lieutenant.

249. You don't have to forget what you learned at the Academy

250. you just don't throw it in anyone's face here.

251. If you're really smart, you might even learn

252. a few new things about station security from our Constable.

253. Clear?

254. Very clear, sir.

255. Now, regarding the shipment.

256. We've been made aware of a possible Kobliad plot

257. to hijack the deuridium.

258. You and Odo ought to have a talk with Kajada

259. the Kobliad Security Officer who arrived yesterday.

260. Um, before we get started, I want to apologize

261. for us getting off on the wrong foot.

262. Think nothing of it.

263. Listen, I know this is your bailiwick.

264. I don't mean to be throwing my weight around.

265. No hard feelings.

266. None at all.

267. Just because I'm from Starfleet Security

268. doesn't mean I don't respect your opinion.

269. How about showing me what you got

270. and I'll see if there's anything we can work with?

271. Lieutenant, you're welcome to see my plans

272. but I assure you, I've taken every precaution

273. regarding the shipment.

274. However, if you have any suggestions

275. I'd be happy to hear them.

276. What?

277. Odo to Ops.

278. Go ahead.

279. Major, are we having

280. some sort of computer problem?

281. Everything in active memory has been accessed and purged.

282. That's impossible.

283. Oh, it's possible.

284. Vantika did the exact same thing on Rigel VII.

285. I know Vantika.

286. I've learned to think as he thinks.

287. Kajada, our best evidence suggests

288. Vantika stopped thinking two days ago.

289. He's alive

290. and he's on board this station.

291. And his first thought when he came on board

292. was to plan a way to access your security files

293. on the deuridium shipment

294. which is exactly what he's done.

295. Even if he was alive

296. it doesn't make sense

297. that he would purge an entire computer memory

298. to go after a single file.

299. It makes perfect sense.

300. Try to access the single file

301. and you'd be stopped

302. by a dozen different lock-outs

303. that I put in to protect it.

304. But you would never consider locking out

305. the active memory of your entire system.

306. It would make it impossible to use the computers at all.

307. So that's where you're vulnerable.

308. But how would he gain access?

309. In the past

310. he's used a subspace shunt.

311. It would be attached to a secondary system

312. something that runs

313. throughout the entire facility

314. but isn't covered by security.

315. The lighting controls.

316. Or the replicators.

317. I'm showing an unauthorized tap into the computer system.

318. A temperature control panel

319. level 21, section 10.

320. Security to level... Security...

321. To L-21, S-10.

322. We're looking

323. for a subspace crossover link

324. to the computer system.

325. Acknowledged.

326. Tell them to be careful.

327. Vantika undoubtedly equipped the shunt

328. with an auto-destruct system.

329. You know that for certain, without having to check?

330. I know Vantika.

331. Miss Kajada, I must admit

332. I'm having a tough time with your theory.

333. Then you're making a fatal mistake.

334. Three passengers were on your ship.

335. Two bodies are in our morgue.

336. Unless the ghost of Vantika is...

337. Don't patronize me, Commander!

338. Isn't it more likely that some accomplice did this?

339. Rao Vantika is obsessed with his own survival.

340. He's prolonged his life through the use of drugs

341. cryogenics, transplants.

342. As a medical supervisor in a high-security penitentiary

343. he used prisoners

344. for his illegal experiments in cellular longevity.

345. He's organized raids on government labs

346. to steal bio-regenerative research.

347. I promise you, when he started that fire on board my ship

348. he had a plan to survive.

349. I'm not sure what that plan was

350. but I'm convinced it succeeded.

351. Doctor, how soon before we get the results

352. of the DNA trace?

353. I sent it to Starfleet Command yesterday.

354. They'll have to coordinate with Kobliad Security.

355. I'd say another 12 hours.

356. Until then, we will operate under the assumption

357. that Vantika is alive.

358. Commander.

359. May I have a word with you?

360. What's on your mind?

361. My resignation.

362. You're overreacting.

363. Oh, so you already know about this.

364. Yes. Lieutenant Primmin mentioned to me...

365. You asked me to stay in charge of security

366. when you took command of this station.

367. I did not ask you.

368. Constable, no one knows this station like you do.

369. Oh, yes. I've noticed that.

370. "Constable." It's very cute.

371. It's an expression of affection.

372. I believe Major Kira was the first...

373. I don't need anyone's affection.

374. I do need clear jurisdiction

375. or I am out.

376. I like you, Odo.

377. I like to know where a man stands.

378. There's never been any question of that with you.

379. I need you here.

380. No Starfleet officer can do the job you do.

381. You've got that straight.

382. But you have to realize that Starfleet

383. is not going to take command of a station in deep space

384. without assigning some security to protect its interests.

385. Understandable.

386. You're going to have to work with Primmin.

387. The two of you have to find a way to get along.

388. Tell him that.

389. I already have.

390. Who's in charge?

391. In joint operations like this one...

392. you are.

393. I can live with that arrangement.

394. What have you got, Dax?

395. I'm not exactly sure yet.

396. I finished the sweep of Kajada's ship.

397. No anomalous readings, but I did notice one odd thing.

398. What's that?

399. Someone tried to break into the ship's cargo bay.

400. Since it's been docked?

401. Kira confirmed that there was no damage

402. to the cargo area when they brought it in.

403. What do you think they were after?

404. This, maybe.

405. I found it in Vantika's personal belongings.

406. What is it?

407. A map

408. of the humanoid brain.

409. You call this clean?

410. I've already found three coins

411. on the floor up here.

412. Who knows what else there might be.

413. Somebody may have lost some valuable jewelry

414. or something.

415. Fine.

416. Never mind.

417. I'll do it myself.

418. And I'll keep it myself.

419. Leave!

420. You just can't find good help anymore.

421. Have you made

422. the preparations?

423. Preparations?

424. What preparations?

425. The deuridium shipment.

426. You were to hire mercenaries to help me.

427. Help you...

428. but you can't be Vantika.

429. I told you to expect me at this hour.

430. Yes, and I contacted

431. some very reliable soldiers of fortune

432. in anticipation of your arrival.

433. But I was told you were dead.

434. Almost...

435. but not quite.

436. You wanted to see me?

437. Kajada.

438. I'll be right with you.

439. There.

440. Now, remember, next time, lift with your back straight

441. and use the anti-gravity generator.

442. I'm sorry. Come in.

443. I have the DNA scan results.

444. I thought you might like to see them.

445. In fact, I tried to call you last night.

446. But you never responded to the com.

447. Um, I have a little trouble sleeping.

448. Last night was particularly bad

449. so I used an alpha wave inducer to help me.

450. Oh, you should be careful with those.

451. They're only meant for occasional use.

452. The scan results, Doctor.

453. Oh, yeah.

454. There wasn't even a trace of diploid variation.

455. It's definitely not a clone.

456. Positive identification— Rao Vantika.

457. They must have overlooked something.

458. Dax to Bashir.

459. Yes, Jadzia?

460. I need some medical advice.

461. Can you come to my lab?

462. I'll be right there.

463. Bashir out.

464. Every conceivable test has been done, Kajada.

465. Here's the hypothesis.

466. The body dies, the consciousness lives on.

467. In another brain?

468. Possible?

469. Well, the closest thing I've encountered

470. is synaptic pattern displacement

471. but that's never been done by a non-Vulcan.

472. I'm convinced Vantika was working on it.

473. There are over 70 different

474. computer simulations in his file.

475. All involve identifying neural energy patterns

476. and storing them in different areas of the brain.

477. Well, there's plenty of room.

478. A humanoid only uses a small portion of the brain.

479. What if another entity shared the unused portion?

480. Hypothetically...

481. Vantika's consciousness could be occupying someone else's brain

482. while he waits for the deuridium to arrive.

483. But whose?

484. Kajada.

485. They're both Kobliad.

486. What better place to hide

487. than in the mind of your worst enemy?

488. It doesn't make sense.

489. She's been doing everything she can

490. to convince us that Vantika is alive.

491. If Vantika's controlling her

492. why would he call attention to himself?

493. We're not suggesting he's controlling her.

494. This is all theoretical

495. but to extend the logic, there's no reason to believe

496. she'd even be aware of his presence.

497. Like a stowaway on a ship— the pilot's at the helm

498. but someone else is along for the ride.

499. Would an examination of Kajada confirm any of this?

500. We don't know what we're looking for yet.

501. We still have to identify a method of transfer first.

502. I could assign some personnel

503. to maintain continuous surveillance on Kajada.

504. We're already stretched to the limit

505. preparing for the shipment.

506. Why don't I just set the computer

507. to track her movements and alert us if she goes

508. near a secured area?

509. At the very least

510. she has to be left out of our security plans.

511. She won't like that.

512. I'm afraid we have no choice.

513. What do we tell her?

514. Nothing. She'll figure it out.

515. When she does, send her to me.

516. The computer security codes have been changed.

517. I've been denied access.

518. Why?

519. Because I ordered it.

520. What kind of fool are you?

521. My own special variety.

522. I'm the only one here who has experience with Vantika.

523. I'm sorry.

524. I believe it's necessary at this point to restrict access

525. to the security files to four people:

526. myself, Lieutenant Primmin, Major Kira and Commander Sisko.

527. When is the shipment scheduled to arrive?

528. I can't give you that information.

529. What about this Ferengi— Quark?

530. What about him?

531. From what I understand

532. he has his hands into everything around here.

533. Is he under surveillance?

534. I always keep an eye on him.

535. I hope so

536. because he's exactly the kind

537. that Vantika would use in his plans.

538. Everything has been taken care of.

539. That's what you said about the job on Vener VII.

540. You should thank me for Vener VII.

541. You got paid, didn't you?

542. We almost got killed.

543. A normal risk in your line of work.

544. A normal risk when we work for you.

545. That's for certain.

546. So, when do we meet this Kobliad?

547. When he decides it's appropriate.

548. All right, then, a better question—

549. when do we get paid?

550. When the job is completed, of course.

551. Not acceptable.

552. We'll require an advance payment

553. of 70%.

554. Durg, wake up.

555. This is Quark you're talking to, remember?

556. All past debts have been settled.

557. They'll never be settled.

558. You'd still be rotting in a Cardassian jail

559. if I hadn't...

560. Can you speak?

561. Pushed.

562. Vantika.

563. I can't keep her conscious any longer, Commander.

564. If she moves too much

565. she could suffer permanent paralysis.

566. Did you see anybody behind her?

567. I just heard the scream and looked up.

568. She fell from the balcony.

569. What was she doing up there, anyway?

570. She had an odd feeling you might be

571. helping someone hijack this deuridium shipment.

572. I resent the inference.

573. It's not an inference.

574. It's a definite suspicion.

575. Was anyone else in the bar?

576. Anyone else?

577. At the time of the accident.

578. No, just me.

579. Just tidying up

580. which, if you'll excuse me, I really must finish.

581. Not so fast, Quark.

582. I want to take a look at that third floor

583. before you get rid of all the evidence.

584. Be my guest

585. but I'm telling you, she was alone up there.

586. And she had no business invading the privacy

587. of a law-abiding member of the community.

588. What do you think, Doctor?

589. Could this have been a suicide attempt?

590. Well, I haven't noticed any indication

591. of suicidal behavior, but then, who knows

592. what the effect of sharing one's brain might be.

593. I'd still like some confirmation of that.

594. I'll have to tend to her injuries

595. before I conduct any brain scan.

596. But until we find

597. the transfer method Vantika used

598. I'm not even sure what to look for.

599. Computer, location of Lieutenant Dax.

600. Lieutenant Dax is in the stasis room.

601. Find something under his fingernails?

602. Not yet.

603. What are you looking for?

604. Confirmation of a theory, I hope.

605. I've been asking myself

606. why would anyone induct a bioelectrical charge

607. into a glial cell?

608. A question I have always wondered about.

609. Well, it might make sense

610. if you wanted to send a bio-coded message

611. along the glial cells of someone's nervous system

612. all the way to the brain.

613. My guess is

614. that's what Vantika was trying to do.

615. Using his fingernails?

616. Frankly, I can't think of another way

617. he could have delivered the bio-coded message.

618. He must have used a very weak electrical charge

619. or the sensors on Kajada's ship would have detected it.

620. Ideally, he would have injected

621. the bio-coded message directly into his victim's skin

622. but there were no hyposprays or needles

623. anywhere on the ship.

624. A microscopic generator.

625. You're suggesting he stored his consciousness

626. in that thing?

627. His neural patterns encoded as bioelectrical pulses.

628. He could have placed that device under his nail months ago

629. just in case he needed an escape route in an emergency—

630. his last resort before death.

631. Will this show up in Kajada?

632. Now that we know what we're looking for

633. we should be able to confirm it

634. with a glial scan.

635. Do it as soon as Bashir stabilizes her.

636. Nice work.

637. Confirm that each distribution amplifier

638. is at 100% efficiency.

639. If there's more than a.03% fall-off

640. replace it.

641. And that won't mean a thing

642. if the power waveguide outlets fail.

643. Double-check them.

644. You better make this the last check.

645. We've only got an hour.

646. Where's Primmin?

647. I thought he was with you.

648. I sent him to help you make

649. the final security sweep of the docking area.

650. He has not been here all morning.

651. I won't be going with you.

652. I'm simply a middleman, a facilitator.

653. A profit monger.

654. And proud of it.

655. How did you get your hands

656. on a Federation runabout, Quark?

657. I can't take credit for that.

658. Your employer has somehow managed

659. to arrange security access.

660. When do we meet this employer?

661. His message said he'd be waiting for us on board.

662. Uh...

663. uh, I'm terribly sorry.

664. We seem to have made a wrong turn.

665. We-we didn't mean to disturb you

666. Doctor.

667. Not at all, gentlemen.

668. I've been expecting you.

669. Julian?

670. Computer, location of Dr. Bashir.

671. Dr. Bashir is in the Infirmary.

672. What the hell are you doing in there?

673. I told you to sweep the docking bay again.

674. I took a cue from you.

675. From me?

676. You understood the logic of Vantika's MO

677. when he downloaded the computer memory—

678. avoid the single file, attack the system.

679. I'm not following.

680. Vantika has to know that all of our security efforts

681. will be focused on the docking ring.

682. And...?

683. I figured, if he holds true to form

684. that's not where he'll try to hurt us.

685. So I ran a diagnostic on all the systems

686. that could shut down our whole defense array.

687. I've already done that twice today.

688. I know. I didn't find anything, either.

689. But then I went to the backup systems

690. and I found a glitch there I couldn't explain.

691. And I tracked it back

692. to the waste reclamation system

693. where nobody would ever think to look

694. because it's considered nonessential.

695. And I found this.

696. Another subspace crossover shunt

697. just like the one Vantika used

698. when he tapped into the computer.

699. And it's set to feed back

700. into the primary command and control functions.

701. This would have shut us down for close to an hour.

702. Long enough for him to grab that freighter

703. and warp it to who knows where.

704. Yes, Major?

705. The Norkova's just come through the wormhole.

706. Requesting permission to dock.

707. Let's go to a Security Alert Yellow.

708. What bay do you have assigned in the plan?

709. Number Eight.

710. Odo...

711. maintain a visible contingent

712. of security at Bay Eight.

713. But I'm sending the Norkova

714. to the second backup.

715. Bay 12.

716. I'll send additional forces to 12.

717. Commander, your Lieutenant Primmin there

718. just saved us all a lot of problems.

719. Another subspace crossover that would have crippled us

720. long enough for them to escape with your deuridium.

721. Odo, did you deploy a runabout

722. to escort the Norkova?

723. No.

724. Then how come the Rio Grande's going out to meet it?

725. On screen.

726. Benjamin, Julian's missing.

727. Missing?

728. His combadge was in the infirmary.

729. I can't find him anywhere.

730. Computer, who authorized access

731. to the runabout Rio Grande?

732. access code 4-1-2-1.

733. Dr. Julian Bashir.

734. It's safe.

735. Shields up.

736. Done.

737. Secure the rest of the ship.

738. Be sure to account

739. for all 12 members of the crew.

740. If they resist, kill them.

741. Enter the new course.

742. Aye.

743. The station has locked a tractor beam on us.

744. But that's not possible.

745. They should be shut down by now.

746. Well, they're not.

747. They're hailing us.

748. Hailing... us?

749. Engage engines, full impulse.

750. We're not going anywhere with a tractor beam on us.

751. Do it!

752. Full impulse engaged.

753. The tractor beam is holding.

754. But they won't be able to pull us in.

755. We can't just sit here and wait.

756. What do you intend to do?

757. Open a channel.

758. I'm Benjamin Sisko

759. Commander of DS9.

760. Rao Vantika is my name.

761. But I assume you know that already.

762. I want to talk to Dr. Bashir.

763. Unfortunately, he's not available at the moment.

764. Is he all right?

765. His body is— how do you humans say it?

766. Fit as a fiddle.

767. Looks rather good on me, don't you think?

768. What have you done to his mind, Vantika?

769. It was necessary to render him unconscious for the time being.

770. However, I might consider

771. leaving his body and returning him to you.

772. But first, you must release

773. your tractor beam.

774. I can't do that.

775. If you don't, I'll take this vessel to warp.

776. The tractor beam would rip apart your ship.

777. And you and everybody on board would be killed.

778. Exactly.

779. So if you care at all about the welfare of your doctor

780. you will release your hold on us.

781. You have one minute to decide.

782. Can we get a transporter lock on him?

783. Negative. Their shields are up.

784. Suggestions?

785. A small ship like a runabout

786. might be able to get close enough

787. to overload their shield generators

788. with directed phaser fire.

789. We used to do it to Cardassian freighters all the time.

790. But you'd be risking a hull breach

791. and with all the deuridium on board...

792. He's right.

793. We can't risk releasing deuridium into the system.

794. Every populated area would have to be evacuated.

795. Dax, is there any way to disrupt

796. Vantika's control over Bashir?

797. I have an exact model

798. of Vantika's neural energy patterns.

799. If I can design an electromagnetic pulse

800. to disrupt those patterns

801. Julian might emerge.

802. We still need a way to get it there.

803. Could we run it along the tractor beam

804. at the same frequency

805. as their shields?

806. The pulse would resonate off the shields

807. and create a reflected EM field inside the ship.

808. He's hailing us.

809. I need some time.

810. I'll give you as much as I can. On screen.

811. Have you decided?

812. If I permit you to leave

813. what guarantee do I have that you'll return Dr. Bashir?

814. Oh, you're far too ready to capitulate, Commander.

815. Would you be planning

816. a rescue attempt, perhaps?

817. I'm only interested in the safety of my doctor.

818. You insult my intelligence.

819. Prepare to go to warp.

820. You've gone

821. to great lengths to survive, Vantika.

822. I don't think you're ready to kill yourself.

823. And I don't think you are ready

824. to risk spreading deuridium all over this system.

825. Ready to engage warp engines.

826. You must be crazy!

827. I want no part of this!

828. No more middlemen, Sisko.

829. No more delays.

830. What's it to be?

831. All right.

832. We're prepared to release the tractor beam.

833. Dax?

834. Ready.

835. Do it!

836. Dr. Bashir!

837. Answer me.

838. Bashir!

839. Yes?

840. What?

841. Doctor, lower the shields!

842. What?

843. What... what shields?

844. Where am I?

845. I'll explain later.

846. Lower the shields now!

847. The shields are down.

848. Get him out of there!

849. Energizing.

850. It's okay.

851. It's...

852. me.

853. I've programmed this transporter

854. to isolate any glial cells with Vantika's neural patterns...

855. and to beam them from Julian

856. into this micro-containment field.

857. Once they're out, he should be back to normal.

858. I'm only reading human neural patterns.

859. He's clear.

860. Oh, I have the worst headache.

861. Dr. Bashir, I'm so sorry for all of this.

862. Well, I suppose we should have listened to you

863. when you said he was alive.

864. There was no way for you to control

865. what he was doing to you.

866. I'm afraid I don't remember it.

867. Actually, I feel quite humiliated.

868. No one blames you, Doctor.

869. It wasn't you.

870. It was that.

871. What do you intend to do

872. with it?

873. May I assume that you've returned custody

874. of the prisoner to me, Commander Sisko?

875. The prisoner?

876. What's left of him.

877. Good.

878. Captioning sponsored by PARAMOUNT PICTURES