Summary[]
Just before he is leaving for a conference on Romulus, Bashir is visited by Sloan who wants him to gather data on Romulus for Section 31. Sisko recommends that Bashir should take over the task, and if only to gather information about Section 31. On their way to Romulus, Sloan tells Bashir that he is to examine Koval of the Tal Shiar who may suffer from the Tuvan syndrome. Bashir, however, suspects that Section 31 may use the information about the illness to kill Koval, a declared opponent of the Federation. When Admiral Ross suffers an aneurysm, Bashir sees no other chance than to consult Romulan Senator Cretak, who then tries to get access to Koval's files to find a possible traitor in the Romulan Senate.
Bashir is arrested and, after an unsuccessful attempt to scan his brain, finds himself in a Romulan courtroom, together with Cretak and Sloan as the other defendants. Sloan denies that Section 31 even exists but claims that he wanted to kill Koval for personal revenge. When Sloan tries to escape, he is seemingly vaporized by a disruptor, but actually he is beamed up secretly. The whole affair was a hoax devised by Sloan and supported by Ross to discredit Cretak and get Koval, who is a secret supporter of the Romulan-Federation alliance, into a better position.
Back aboard Deep Space Nine, Sloan shows up in Bashir's quarters, explaining that he needed a man of conscience for the operation, that the Federation needs men of conscience. Before he turns to leave, he adds that the Federation also needs men like Sloan to defend men like Bashir. Bashir initially calls Odo, but decides not to report Sloan's visit, instead reflecting on the words of Section 31's agent.
Errors and Explanations[]
Nit Central[]
- Murray Leeder on Tuesday, March 02, 1999 - 9:10 am: Kira mentioned the Rotarran as Martok's flagship. I thought that was changed. His use of another Bird of Prey as his flagship in Once More Unto the Breach may have been temporary.
- Curious that Garak is still unwilling to comment on some of his spy activities. I think that perhaps this should come into the open now that he's worked with Starfleet intelligence. Palandine on Sunday, May 13, 2001 - 4:03 pm: For what it's worth, he goes into some detail about this in the novel "A Stitch in Time." I'm not going to give that cool part of the story away, other than to say that I would argue he didn't talk about it more out of shame and self-loathing than any particular desire to be cloak-and-dagger. Seniram 17:23, November 21, 2017 (UTC) Perhaps he thought it prudent to hold some information back as a precaution. CdnTim 1654 EST 19 Feb 2021 - This is Elim Garak we're talking about here! He's hardly going to completely give up the coy, half-truth way he's always had; if nothing else, he probably feels like he needs to stay in practice!
- Peculiar that Section 31 (or at least Sloan) seems unaware or unwilling to bring up Neral's involvement in that whole false-reunification debacle. Too risky – reminding the Romulans about that could have prompted them to withdraw from the war against the Dominion.
- Dan on Wednesday, March 03, 1999 - 9:12 pm: Big nit with set reuse: That nice galley that they were all in? Not supposed to exist! Peter Howie on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 7:28 pm: For those of you who think that there is a galley visible on the Bellerophon there isn't. They have a counter but behind that was a wall where on Voyager there would be a kitchen. The counter was different than the counter on Voyager and I think their's is meant to be as a bar. Steve Oostrom on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 9:49 pm: Considering that the ship being used was an Intrepid-class ship and so they could use the "Voyager" sets, there was little of the ship seen, and none of the crew. I did not really notice Neelix's galley on the Bellerophon, just the serving area, which might have existed in the original ship design as a kind of buffet counter or whatever. Ryan Smith on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 5:04 pm: For those wondering what exactly Neelix's galley started its life as, I went to the ST Encyclopedia and found that it used to be the captain's personal dining room. Of course, this can change from ship to ship. Think of all the different bridge modules we've seen in the movies.
- Sloan couldn't have survived unless 31's tech is really really REALLY that good....they used the same type of visual shot when that guy was vaporized in TNG's Face of the Enemy. The shot hit him in the chest/stomach area and the rest of his body disappears… Mike Konczewski on Thursday, March 04, 1999 - 7:01 am: Dan--that fake death scene implies that Section 31 has a new form of transporter that looks exactly like the result of vaporization by phaser/disruptor. Steve Oostrom on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 9:49 pm: This was one of those rare moments when a person actually gets vaporized. Most times when people get shot, they might get burns on their chest but are otherwise intact, but Sloan got vaporized - which was kind of convenient since he got transported out by the "superfast" Section 31 transporter (kind of reminded me of the trick the mercenaries used on TNG's "The Gambit"; didn't buy the trick then and I don't buy it now).
Then again, Section 31 must have some sophisticated technology, considering that Sloan can beam in and out of DS9 at will and without detection. The station would be monitoring such things since they are in a war zone and must be aware of such things (especially considering the Dominion's three-light-year transporter from Covenant). CdnTim 1656 EST 19 Feb 2021 - The DS9 beaming can be explained by Section 31 having inside access to a Starfleet-run station. The Romulus scam can probably be explained the same way, since Koval was a high-ranking Romulan official. - Steve Oostrom on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 9:49 pm:Where did Sloan go each time? Does Section 31 have its own secret ships with cloaking devices? Maybe a secret area either on Romulus or the Bellerophon.
- Mike Konczewski on Thursday, March 04, 1999 - 7:01 am: I've never been able to figure out why the Romulans use so many terms from old Rome: senator, praetor, etc. For a people so critical about Earth, they sure like our history. sharon Jordan on Thursday, March 04, 1999 - 8:22 am: I think, that in their language, that is how their titles are translated as such. So in the universal translator, their titles translate into our familiar tiles of leaders of Rome.
- blue{Sharon Jordan} on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 8:00 pm: At the end of Inquisition, Sisko ordered him to accept an assignment right then and there, yet at the beginning of this episode, once Sloan gave it to him, Bashir kept turning him down! He doesn't remember Sisko's orders does he? maybe he thought Sisko wasn't serious. Bashir’s approach is actually quite sensible – if he had accepted Sloan’s assignment straight away, Sloan would have instantly become suspicious.
- Steve Oostrom on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 9:49 pm: I noticed that in the one clear shot (relatively speaking), the name of the ship was not clear, but the first two letters were, "74...", just like those of Voyager. Perhaps all Intrepid-class ships start with "74..." or perhaps the creators simply did not want to paint over the model.Dan on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 6:01 pm: Well doesn't Defiant also start with 74? I think the producers just love 47 a lot...they are even putting the ships' registries with a backwards 47 in them.
- Another question. We have seen lots of Federation ship designs, and we have seen four Klingon ship designs and at least three Dominion ship designs, but why do the Romulans have just one ship design? The warbirds are getting a little tiresome. The Romulan designers should come up with something new. Dan on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 6:01 pm: Well they seem 2 have 2 kinds. The other being a scout ship but I know you mean the bigger kinds like Starfleet has....well throughout TNG whenever you the Romulans show up and Worf says the romulans have decloaked he sometimes says "something or other" class...meaning they have different class ships......but conviently they all look alike.....Torque, Son of Keplar on Thursday, August 31, 2006 - 12:02 pm: To the comment that the Romulans needs new ship designs, I have a few counter points to that.
1. Maybe Romulans don't have a Microsoft which requires an update or upgrade every 6 months, maybe they build better systems from the start.
2. Who says that they don't have other ship designs. Maybe the Romulans are only using the old Warbird designs for this war and their good stuff is cloaked and guarding Romulan assets closer to home. Think about it, the stealth fighter wasn't even released to the public until after it existed for some time. - Brad W. Higgins on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 4:46 pm:I'm still trying to figure out what exactly the point of this episode was. Obviously it wasn't to assassinate Koval, since he turned out to be Starfleet's mole. I doubt if it was to get Cretak, since she was in favor of the alliance as long as the Romulan government was. Unless of course she was standing in Koval's way to be appointed to the Continuing Commitee, which seems unlikely. The only thing I can think of is that Starfleet Intelligence wanted to falsely expose Section 31 to the Romulans and then "kill" its leader so that they could continue to deny it's existence. They must really want to protect it if they're willing to go to such lengths to deny it. Adam Howarter on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 1:11 am: The answer to the point of this episode was stated by Ross at the end. He looks more credible as a member of the council if he survived an assassination attempt. She on the other hand is loyal to the Romulans. If its in their best interest sometime in the future she would support a peace treaty with the Dominion, he won't. So get the possible threat out of the way in favor of the known ally.
- Ryan Smith on Saturday, March 06, 1999 - 5:04 pm: A minor point, but the Tal Shiar's insignia has changed since Deanna Troi decided it gave her the right in Face of the Enemy (TNG). Many organisations update their logo from time to time!
- Hans Thielman on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 12:11 pm: Sloan didn't seem terribly concerned that his conversations with Bashir might be monitored. Maybe he is secretly carrying something to prevent monitoring by anyone outside Section 31.
- Why is Admiral Ross going to the conference in a dinky and unimpressive Intrepid Class ship? Prestige should have dictated that Admiral Ross travel in a Galaxy Class ship or at least an Excelsior Class ship. If nothing else, a Galaxy Class ship has more room for passengers than the Intrepid Class. Aaron Dotter on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 12:47 pm: I would think that probably the Bellerophon was all that was available, since the Galaxies and Excelsiors are probably on the front, but probably the real reason they used the Intrepid is that they did not want to build new sets, and if they just used a different ship model with the same sets, we would all be wondering why a different class of ship has Voyager's sets. Charles Cabe (Ccabe) on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 1:27 pm: IMHO, I think that that the Intrepid-class ship made the most sense. Sending a warship like the Excelsior, Galaxy, or Defiant-classes, would send the wrong message to the Romulans. Sending the realitvely weak Intrepid-class conveys a message of friendship to the Romulans. Sending a battleship to your allies front porch is not a good idea.Thande on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 7:46 am: An Intrepid-class starship was an interesting and, I think, appropriate choice for Ross' command ship. There are things which we forget about because they never appear on Voyager, such as:
The Intrepid is one of the fastest ships in the fleet, with a cruising speed of warp 9.975 (only the Sovereign and Defiant have been stated to be faster) making it ideal for getting the admiral to flashpoints quickly - or away from Romulus (remember, Romulan ships are usually stated to be slower than their Federation counterparts).
Though Voyager is sometimes portrayed as undergunned, it actually has more weaponry than the much larger Enterprise-D! (Compare Voyager's 13 phaser arrays and 4 torpedo launchers with the Enterprise-D's 11 phasers and 2 torpedo launchers). The only advantage of the Enterprise is it has a much larger reserve of torpedoes. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 10:08 am: Where were the Sovereign and Defiant stated to be faster than the Intrepid? Thande on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 11:44 am: Not on screen, I admit. The DS9 Tech Manual, which is canonical (though riddled with errors :)) consistently states the Defiant's top speed to be warp 9.982. However, it doesn't say if this is top cruising or emergency speed; 9.975 is Voyager's top cruising speed. I can't seem to find the reference to the Sovereign, but if I recall correctly the top speed is something like warp 9.999. This makes sense given that the Sovereign is newer than the other two and is the flagship, so will presumably have the newest and most advanced warp technology in the fleet. (It also has really huge warp nacelles, but then Voyager has titchy ones and is one of the fastest ships...I guess size really is no measure of capability. :)LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 2:14 pm: Tech Manuals aren't canonical, Thande. They're conjecture. The only material that Paramount policy states is canonical is that which is derived from the episodes and movies. Thande on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 8:20 am: According to the foreword to the NextGen Guide II (or possibly the Classic Guide), the Tech Manuals and Encyclopaedias are considered canonical by Paramount and thus a suitable source of information for nitpicking. Unless they've changed their policy in the meantime. NB by Tech Manuals I only meant the NextGen and DS9 ones by the Okudas, not all the conjectural ones like the Star Fleet Tech Manual (TOS) and 'Mr Scott's Guide to the Enterprise'. LUIGI NOVI on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 3:34 pm: Actually, it doesn't say that at all. In the Classic Guide, where Phil Farrand modified the Nitpicker's Prime Directive, he only referred to "reference books," books, saying, "Reference books can help here as well, as long as the explanations match what is shown on the screen". Here he is talking about information derived from the episodes and movies (of which the bulk of the material in the Encyclopedia and Chronology are comprised). He is NOT talking about information that the books conjecture themselves (of which the bulk of the information in the Tech Manuals are comprised). Conjectural material is only a GUIDELINE for the creators, nothing more. An example is the first warp flight of Zephram Cochrane's Phoenix. The very first Chronology conjectured it to be in 2061. When ST First Contact was produced, the date used was 2063. When the second edition of the Chronology was published, the date therein was changed to reflect the canonical information now available from that movie. - The actor playing Koval also portrayed a Romulan involved in the brainwashing of La Forge in Next Generation's "The Mind's Eye." Maybe it’s meant to be the same character, or fsiling that a close relative!
- The Federation bureaucracy must be terribly bloated if a Department of Cartography exists. Aaron Dotter on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 12:47 pm: There do seem to be a lot of Federation agenices of one kind or another. Just look at all the ones in the Encyclopedia! CdnTim 1700 EST 19 Feb 2021 - Even ignoring the non-canon idea of complicated subspace cartography having an effect on warp speeds, mapping is clearly very important. A vast Federation would constantly be looking for non-stellar real world phenomena, without even taking into account all the negative space wedgies our heroes encounter! Just keeping track of stellar drift would be a major undertaking.
- If Bashir was so annoyed with Sloan, then why didn't he either hypospray him or just punch him out and haul him over to Odo? Sloan could probably get out of it but you think Bashir would make the effort at least. That could cause more problems.
- They must have timed that transporter to beam Sloan out REALLY, REALLY good. A disruptor beam goes at the speed of light so how can you know it is coming at you until it hits you? Adam Howarter on Sunday, March 07, 1999 - 9:28 pm: I suspect the phaser they shot him with was like the ones in "Gambit." Instead of vaporizing him it transported him away. Joshua Truax on Monday, March 08, 1999 - 10:22 am: If Sloan was beamed away a split second before being vaporized, as Adm. Ross claims, how come we never saw the transporter beam? Seniram 17:23, November 21, 2017 (UTC) Maybe it was hidden by the vaporisation effect.
- Joshua Truax on Monday, March 08, 1999 - 10:22 am: Since I knew there was going to be an Intrepid-class starship in this episode, I set out to find any leftover "artifact" of Voyager, such as its registry number, aboard the Bellerephon that the creators overlooked and failed to remove. I didn't find any (at least, not the first time I watched). Kudos for that! However, I did find a discrepancy or two between Voyager and the Bellerophon. Before Voyager was brought into Delta Quadrant, its mess hall didn't have a kitchen; it just had a bare rear wall with a bunch of replicators. (See Caretaker (VGR).) I would have expected the Bellerephon's mess hall to have the same design. Instead, its rear wall has a bunch of paintings and other artwork on it instead. In addition, the lighting in the Bellerephon mess hall seems a bit brighter than aboard the original Voyager mess hall. Steve Oostrom on Monday, March 08, 1999 - 9:29 pm: I think the differences between Voyager and the Bellerephon is due to the fact that the latter is probably a ship used by the diplomatic corps, and so has been prettied up somewhat with better lighting, artwork on the walls and a mess hall that looks more like a reception hall.
- Steve Oostrom on Monday, March 08, 1999 - 9:29 pm:I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet, but why would Bashir and Ross have to take their commbadges off to have their "off-the-record" conversation at the end? Does the computer record the on-going conversations of the officers when they're wearing the commbadges? Talk about a lack of privacy. Or maybe it was symbolic that at that moment they were talking as ordinary men and not as Starfleet officers. I did find it curious, however. By Shirlyn Wong on Tuesday, March 09, 1999 - 8:23 am: when taken off? I kept thinking that though they have said it was "off the record" that they were actually broadcasting it to the entire world. The way I think comm badges work is touch it to activate (it chirps), speak to computer/person, deactivate either by tapping it again (w/ chirp) or just letting the connection time-out after the other party "hangs-up". Mike Konczewski on Tuesday, March 09, 1999 - 1:01 pm: When the Admiral and Bashir took off their badges, each badge made a single chirp, instead of the multiple chirp you normally hear when responding to a hail or sending a call. I assumed the single chirp meant they had turned off their badges, to show to one another that they weren't secretly broadcasting their conversation. Why they had to remove them, I can't say. Chris George, DS9 Moderator (Cgeorge) on Wednesday, March 10, 1999 - 4:44 pm: Mike, when I watched it, it just sounded like the noise of the badge being removed, rather than a chirp. I could be wrong, though. Nathan K. on Wednesday, March 10, 1999 - 7:35 pm: The creators have consistently added a soft "chirp" sound any time someone removes a communicator. I remember this occurring at least as far back as DS9's first season. They might figure it makes the badge sound more like an advanced piece of technology, or they might be using it to call attention to the fact that the badge is being deactivated. Sharon Jordan on Wednesday, March 10, 1999 - 7:48 pm: Nathan- that could be new technology added in to let them know the wearer is taking it off. My point being, many times in "TNG" and "DS9" when one took off the combadge and took off, the crewperson was still identified by the computer as being with the compadge still. I quess starfleet got fed up with that habit, and put in the "the crewperson took it off, so don't try to find them through this thing' feature. CdnTim 1703 EST 19 Feb 2021 - I took the commbadge thing to be more symbolic, that they weren't speaking as two Starfleet officers (especially two with a massive gulf in rank between them), but speaking man-to-man, as it were.
- Keith Alan Morgan on Saturday, May 01, 1999 - 2:25 am: Koval is head of the Tal Shiar and Sloane says it is odd that he hasn't moved up, but in Inquisition, Sloane said that to be a member of Section 31 you should have no ambition. Wouldn't the Tal Shiar have a similar policy? Different race – Different rules!
- I didn't have a problem with the Captain's Private Dining Room being used for the Diplomatic get together early in the show, but later when Bashir finds out that Ross has had a heart attack it appears that it is being used by off-duty crewmembers. I guess the captain is very tolerant of who uses it. Either that or it’s a different room that just looks like the private dining room. CdnTim 1704 EST - 19 Feb 2021 - The reception wasn't held in the captain's dining room, it was held in the main crew lounge (the space serves the same role on both ships, and seems roughly analogous to 10 Forward). The captain's private dining room is the specific space that Neelix turned into a galley to actually prepare food, and is separated by a wall from the main lounge on the Bellerophon. Like 10 Forward on TNG, it is presumably closed to the general crew for a reception, but back in service later.
- Koval's weapon seemed to 'destroy' Sloane pretty slowly, other episodes using Romulan phasers had the process be much quicker, so why didn't any Romulan comment on the slowness of Koval's weapon? (It kind of acted like the Teran T disrupter from The Most Toys.) How did Sloane beam out while his body was supposedly being zapped?
Possibility 1. Koval's weapon was actually a holographic projector giving the illusion of destroying Sloane while actually cloaking him, or allowing him to activate a personal cloak, so he could leave the room.
Possibility 2. Sloane and the Romulans who brought him in where actually holograms projected out of some secret Tal Shiar holoprojectors hidden in the Council room.
Possibility 3. 'Sloane' was actually a person made up to look like Sloane and was actually disintegrated. (I think this one is the most likely.) Personally, I think Option 2 makes more sense! - Teral on Friday, July 06, 2001 - 3:27 pm: O'Brien seems to have some funny ideas about ship repair. During the meeting at the start he says that it is his assessments that determines which gets repaired. According to Worf the Klingon ships are the ones who has suffered the most damage, and O'Brien decides that they therefore should be first in the line for repair. Wouldn't it be much smarter to repair the ships witch are the least damaged first and get them back on the frontline as soon as possible, instead of spending perhaps weeks with one seriously damaged ship. But perhaps O'Brien just don't like the romulans very much and is indeed giving them less than their share of repairtime as hinted by senator Cretak. Or he feels it is prudent to prevent a badly damage ship from harming the station by breaking up.
- Thande on Saturday, May 15, 2004 - 9:42 am: Changed premise: a Romulan calls the disease from "The Quickening", 'The Quickening', but in the episode it was just referred to as 'the blight'. The disease may have been renamed in order to distinguish it from other forms of blight.
Fandom[]
- Smnc at 02:21, 8 January 2024 When Bashir meets with Senator Cretak to ask her to help him find the Romulan Section 31 agent that Bashir believes will assassinate Koval, he asks her to "put aside three centuries of mistrust" between the Federation and Romulans. The episode is set in 2375, but the first known contact between the Federation-to-be and the Romulan Star Empire is the Babel Crisis of 2154, as depicted in Enterprise, which is only slightly more than two centuries before the events of the episode. Even with hyperbole, it's hard to see where the "three centuries" number comes from. SeniramUK (talk) 10:14, 8 January 2024 (UTC) The Babel Crisis of 2154took place in the 22nd century, while the events shown here take place in the 24th century, meaning official contact between the two powers has been ongoing during three centuries - the 22nd, 23rd and 24th - making Bashir's statement technically correct!
Notes[]
- ↑ According to the startrek.com episode list, the provisional stardate for this episode is 52553.