Business as Usual (episode)

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)

"Business as Usual"
DS9, Episode 5x18 Production number: 40510-516 First aired: 5 April 1997
←	114th of 173 produced in DS9	→
←	114th of 173 released in DS9	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 173 released in DS9 Remastered
←	461st of 727 released in all	→

Written By Bradley Thompson & David Weddle Directed By Siddig El Fadil
Unknown (2373)
	Arc: {{{wsArc0Desc}}} ({{{nArc0PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc0PartCount}}})
	Arc: {{{wsArc1Desc}}} ({{{nArc1PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc1PartCount}}})
	Arc: {{{wsArc2Desc}}} ({{{nArc2PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc2PartCount}}})
	Arc: {{{wsArc3Desc}}} ({{{nArc3PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc3PartCount}}})
	Arc: {{{wsArc4Desc}}} ({{{nArc4PartNumber}}} of {{{nArc4PartCount}}})

Quark's cousin Gaila offers him a job as a weapons dealer.

[edit] Summary

Lieutenant Commander Dax and Quark are playing Tongo while the latter is checking on his stock quotes. He then realizes he is practically ruined.

Since news of business failures travels fast among Ferengis, Quark's cousin, Gaila, immediately arrives following this. He then proposes to Quark to go into the weapon selling business with him. Gaila entices Quark with visions of a weapons market growing so fast that within a year, Quark could be debt-free and living on his very own moon.

Meanwhile, Chief O'Brien is having problems with his baby son Kirayoshi. Jake pops by and Miles explains that just as his wife is on Bajor attempting to get a blight under control, his regular babysitter has had an emergency and is unavailable for the time being. As a result, every time he puts Yoshi down, he begins to cry. Jake offers to babysit, and Miles accepts as he has to head for his shift, but as soon as Yoshi is in Jake's arms he begins crying again. Miles takes the baby back and he stops crying as soon as he's in his father's arms. With no other choice, Miles takes Yoshi to work with him.

Quark the bartender then immediately changes into a weapon dealer, using his holosuites to do the demonstrations (and avoiding the risk of bringing weapons aboard DS9). He also meets with his cousin's associate, Hagath, who is ruthless and will not hesitate to kill subordinates who disappoint him. Hagath, however, seems to like Quark from the start. Gaila has decided to retire from his partnership with Hagath, which is why he offered Quark the opportunity. Later, Odo arrests Quark for dealing weapons on the station even though no actual merchandise is being brought on board. However Captain Sisko and Major Kira arrive and tell Odo to release Quark, as the Bajorans have ruled that neither Hagath nor his associates can be arrested on Deep Space Nine due to his giving arms to the Bajoran resistance during the occupation. However, Captain Sisko furiously tells Quark that while he may not be able to get him for selling weapons now, from now on the leniency that he has shown him over the years stops and that the next chance he gets he will see that Quark gets what's coming to him. Odo, knowing that he can do nothing, angrily throws Quark out.

In Quark's, Miles is having his weekly darts game against Julian still carrying Yoshi. Despite Julian's urging, Miles can't put his son down, as every time he does, the baby starts crying. Julian later examines Yoshi and finds him to be perfectly healthy, but Miles' neck and shoulder are feeling the strain of constantly carrying the baby for over a week.

Quark's financial situation soon improves; he quickly reimburses his debtors (thanks to Hagath who pays Quark's percentage of the profits directly to his creditors), just as Gaila predicted. However, Quark's no longer has any Starfleet customers in the bar due to their disgust that he is now dealing in arms, and Quark finds that all his friends, including Dax, have turned against him. He attempts to reconcile with her later when he spots her at the Replimat, but she refuses point blank to have anything to do with a weapons dealer. He tries to reason that the weapons he sells are strictly for defense, but Dax asks him that if he's so certain, then why is he begging her for forgiveness.

Later, Captain Sisko enters Ops to find everyone (including Dax and Kira) whispering. Asking why, Miles explains that Kirayoshi is sleeping in the engineering pit. It turns out that as soon as Miles went down there, Yoshi fell asleep in his bassinet and Miles doesn't want to risk waking him. Sisko decides to give Miles a few days off duty until Keiko returns, but when Miles tries to argue, the Captain tells him they can't keep a baby in the pit. Miles agrees, but asks Sisko if he can at least be left until he wakes up. Sisko agrees, but has to remind the others who are cooing over the baby that they're meant to be working.

When concluding a deal with the Regent of Palamar, Quark begins to realize the impact of what he is doing. Probably because of his previous arguments with Dax, he asks a little more about the intention behind the deal. He then learns that the weapons will be used to lead 28 million people to their death. Attributing his remorse to his prolonged contact with humans, Quark nevertheless decides to make the deal fail, regardless of the reaction of Hagath. After giving an unreceptive Dax his Tongo wheel, as he feels he will never return from this venture, Quark arranges a meeting in Cargo Bay 5 (fooling everyone involved) between the Regent and his political opponent, General Nassuc. A blood bath ensues, and Quark simply walks down the promenade as Odo and a squad of deputies head to the cargo bay after reports of phaser fire.

In his quarters, Miles is cradling his son when Worf enters, reminding the Chief he was meant to make modifications to the Defiant that day. Miles tells Worf that Captain Sisko gave him a few days off and asks Worf to hold his son while he gets his bottle, warning Worf that Yoshi will begin to cry. However, as he is held by Worf, Yoshi doesn't cry but nods off to sleep--Miles is astounded and places the baby in his bassinet. Miles sits down as Worf voices his regret that he didn't see his own son at that age, and Worf notices the Chief is asleep. Worf quickly exits the O'Briens quarters.

In his office, Captain Sisko is giving Quark a severe dressing down for all the trouble he's caused. Quark defends his actions, saying events weren't meant to escalate like they did. Sisko tells Quarks that the Regent is dead and Gaila and Hagath have fled the station with a purification squad after them. Quark tells the Captain he can live with the repercussions and can think of 28 million people who would appreciate them. Captain Sisko tells Quark he can think of 28 million and one, and Quark knows he is forgiven. However, this doesn't stop him from receiving a bill for damages for the cargo bay, which Quark promises to pay in installments.

The episode ends as it began, with Quark and Dax playing Tongo. She comments on his ability to get out of tight spots, and he asks for the wheel back to which Dax refuses.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"28 million dead? Can't we just wound some of them?"

- Quark

"Look out there. Millions and millions of stars. Millions upon millions of worlds. And right now, half of them are fanatically dedicated to destroying the other half. Now, do you think, if one of those twinkling little lights suddenly went out, anybody would notice? ... Suppose I offered you ten million bars of gold-pressed latinum to help turn out one of those lights. Would you really tell me to keep my money?"

- Gaila

"How much latinum did they pay you, Quark?"
"Enough to buy a new conscience?"

- Jadzia Dax and Kira Nerys, in Quark's dream.

"What do I have to lose?"

- Quark

"You'd better hope there isn't a next time mister. I have cut you a lot of slack in the past. I even looked away once or twice when I could have come down hard on you, but those days are over. Now we may not get you for selling weapons, but you so much as litter on the Promenade, and I will nail you to the wall!"
"Something to look forward to"

- Benjamin Sisko and Kira Nerys, to Quark

"Don't stop until you see smoke."

- Quark receiving oo-mox

"What I’m trying to say is that keeping Kirayoshi in the pit is not an acceptable solution."

- Benjamin Sisko, to Miles O'Brien

[edit] Background Information

John Eaves sketch of target robot

During their first pitch session Bradley Thompson and David Weddle were told by Ira Steven Behr that he wanted a story "where Quark runs up against the limits of his greed." This episode was the result. As Hans Beimler explains, "Quark is a Ferengi businessman. That's something he's proud of, that has significance to him. He's not a weasel. "Business as Usual" is a great story because it tells us how far Quark has been pushed, and to what depths he's willing to go, that he would take the role of an arms dealer. And he's never completely comfortable with it. He kids himself for a while. He's in denial, but when they start talking about killing twenty-eight million people, he becomes a man in tremendous turmoil." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) This desire to get under Quark's skin and see the essence of his character echoes the writers' reason for making the fourth season episode "Body Parts".
Bradley Thompson and David Weddle based the outline of this episode on real life events. As Weddle explains, "We'd heard that Russian scientists were pulling plutonium out of warheads and selling it. Knowing that Cardassia was, at this point in the series, falling apart, we wondered what would happen if the planet decided to sell off its weapons." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) This was the second time since the Klingon invasion of Cardassian space that the writers had structured a story with historical parallels; in the episode "By Inferno's Light", Robert Hewitt Wolfe based Dukat's rise to power on Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the Weimar Republic of Germany.
Of Lawrence Tierney's appearance, Ira Steven Behr enthuses "It was one of the highlights of my year to have him on the show.

Alexander Siddig directs Josh Pais on the set of "Business as Usual"
He's one of my icons." Unfortunately, Tierney had suffered a stroke shortly before shooting this episode, and although he could deliver his lines perfectly, he had trouble remembering them. This caused quite a bit of stress for first-time director Alexander Siddig, but in the end, Tierney's performance was one of the highlights of the show. As assistant director Louis Race points out, "He really came to deliver one line: 'I'm here to buy weapons; are you here to sell them?' And he delivered that line like somebody calling to you from the other side of death. It was just chilling. So when the guy had to deliver, he did, and when he did his close-up, nobody stayed in their trailers. They all came over to watch." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
This episode is a favorite of actor Armin Shimerman; "What I like about it is that there's a real, actual problem that Quark has to face, a true dilemma. Having lived with Starfleet for so many years, Quark's begun to acclimatize to their culture, as anyone would who lives in a foreign culture. Because if you live in that culture longer and longer, you begin to take on its characteristics. And certainly, Quark's feelings of remorse and justice and morality are beginning to loom larger and larger in his life." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) This recalls the conversation between Quark and Garak in "The Way of the Warrior", where they talk about how the Federation is like root beer, bubbly and sweet and quite awful, but if you get enough of it, you begin to like it.
When asked if he thinks Quark would have gone ahead with the deal if less people were going to die, Bradley Thompson replied "We just found one line of Quark's greed that he wouldn't cross. We haven't found the bottom line yet." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
Worf's ability to placate Kirayoshi O'Brien would be seen again in the sixth season episode "Time's Orphan", where he would assume baby-sitting duty.
Gaila's speech to Quark ("Suppose I offered you ten million bars of gold-pressed latinum...") is adapted from Orson Welles' speech in Carol Reed's classic 1949 film The Third Man.
The Metron Consortium from TOS: "Arena" is mentioned in this episode, and Quark mentions his futures in quadrotriticale, a reference to TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles".
This episode was directed by Alexander Siddig, using his real name of Siddig El-Fadil, under which he had previously acted. Steven Berkoff previously appeared in Clockwork Orange along with Siddig's uncle, Malcolm McDowell.
A line cut from an early draft of the script referenced a Vulcan science vessel named T'Pan, which had requested permission to dock at Deep Space 9, and was granted to put in at Docking Bay Three. It also referenced the USS Wellington, which was also docked at the station refueling.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 5.9, 21 July 1997.
As part of the DS9 Season 5 DVD collection.

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Main Cast

[edit] Guest Stars

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Season 5

Next episode:
"Ties of Blood and Water"

Create a new article Upload a new image
Search Random page Upload image Recent changes	Help Newest articles Special pages What links here Recent changes Random page

Business as Usual (episode)

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

Contents

[edit] Summary

[edit] Memorable Quotes

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Main Cast

[edit] Guest Stars

[edit] Special Guest Star

[edit] Co-Star

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

[edit] References

[edit] External links