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In the Pale Moonlight (episode)

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"In the Pale Moonlight"
DS9, Episode 6x19
Production number: 40510-543
First aired: 15 April 1998
← 141st of 173 produced in DS9 →
← 141st of 173 released in DS9 →
  {{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 173 released in DS9 Remastered  
← 515th of 727 released in all →
Teleplay By
Michael Taylor

Story By
Peter Allan Fields

Directed By
Victor Lobl
51721.3 (2374)
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Sick of the losses the Federation is taking in the war, Sisko enlists Garak's help to persuade the Romulans to join the Federation against the Dominion. Sisko soon learns that, to save the Federation, he must abandon the values it stands for.

Contents

[edit] Summary

[edit] Teaser

"Captain's Personal Log: Stardate 5-1-7... (unsure) 5-1-7... 4? Computer – what day is it? (COMPUTER VOICE) Thursday. Stardate 51721.3. It's only been two weeks... I need to talk about this. I have to justify what's happened... what I've done... at least to myself. I can't talk to anyone else... not even Dax. Maybe if I just lay it all out in my log, it'll finally make sense... and I'll see where it all went wrong... where I went wrong... I suppose it all started two weeks ago when I was posting the weekly casualty list in the wardroom...every Friday morning, for the past three months, I've posted the official list of Starfleet personnel killed, wounded or missing in the war. It's become something of a grim ritual around here. Not a week goes by that someone doesn't find the name of a loved one, a friend or an acquaintance on that damned list... I've grown to hate Fridays."

This week, Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax discovers that a longtime friend, Leslie Wong, was lost with all hands on board the USS Cairo. Presmably, the Cairo was ambushed by a Dominion patrol that passed through Romulan space, a common occurrence, because the Romulans have a non-aggression pact with the Dominion. Commander Dax and Dr. Bashir debate the situation and come to the conclusion that bringing the Romulans into the war would be advantageous to the Federation war effort.

As his log continues...

"That was the moment I made the decision. It was like I had stepped through a door and locked it behind me. I was going to bring the Romulans into the war."

[edit] Act One

Initially, this objective seems unattainable, as staying neutral is clearly in the Romulans' best interests. When Dax plays the Romulan devil's advocate in a mock debate, Sisko determines how to get them into the war on their side. It becomes evident that Sisko needs "solid proof" to convince the Romulans that the Dominion is planning on conquering them after they are done with the Federation Alliance.

Sisko makes the deal with Garak

Sisko contacts Elim Garak because of his skills at retrieving highly secret and guarded information (namely, secret war plans that Sisko could use). Garak reluctantly agrees, after noting that it would involve Garak's calling in all his favors and that the outing may end up being a rather messy business. However, Sisko is not shaken and is prepared to do anything to accomplish the goal.

As his log continues...

"My father used to say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I laid the first stone right there. I'd committed myself. I'd pay any price, go to any lengths, because my cause was righteous. My... intentions were good. In the beginning, that seemed like enough."

[edit] Act Two

"If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that bad news invariably comes in the middle of the night."

That night, Sisko learns that the Dominion has conquered Betazed in a matter of 10 hours, placing the Dominion in a strategic position to hit several key worlds (including Alpha Centauri, Andor, and Vulcan). This development makes Sisko even more determined, and after 3 days, he asks Garak about his progress. Garak had spoken to several Cardassians who were willing to help, but they were all dead within a day. Garak proposes that they manufacture the evidence they need instead. Sisko is at first appalled at the thought but, he decides to go along with the idea.

As his log continues...

"Maybe I should have put a stop to it right there. Maybe I should have said, "Thank you very much for your input, Mister Garak, I will take your suggestion under advisement," and then gone back to my office and forgotten the whole thing. But I didn't. Because in my heart, I knew what he was saying made sense."

Garak proposes that Sisko invite Senator Vreenak to Deep Space 9, since the senator will be passing by in a few days. Vreenak negotiated the Romulan nonaggression pact with the Dominion and is an outspoken supporter of it; he also has a low opinion of the Federation. If Sisko can persuade him to join the war, the whole Romulan Senate will follow, Garak says. They formulate a plan to show him a fabricated recording of a secret, high-level Dominion meeting in which the Dominion discusses the plan to conquer the Romulans. To ensure that Vreenak believes it, they will use a genuine Cardassian optolythic data rod, as well as a good cover story about how Starfleet obtained it. Starfleet approves the plan.

The first thing that Sisko needs to do is to get Grathon Tolar, who is an expert in holographic forgery, released from a Klingon prison. Gowron pardons him, and Sisko tells Tolar that the conditions of his release are to create a holographic program for him. Tolar realizes the nature of what he has to do when he learns that Garak is involved. Tolar agrees, as the alternative is to face execution by the Klingons.

As his log continues...

"Why I didn't listen to the voice in the back of my mind telling me not to believe a word he said, I'll never know... But it didn't take long for me to come face to face with the fact that I'd made a mistake."

Sisko receives a communication from Odo over the comm stating that Grathon Tolar just tried to kill Quark.

[edit] Act Three

Apparently Tolar got drunk at Quark's and, in the ensuing bar fight, stabbed Quark. Odo cannot release Tolar unless Quark decides not to press charges. Sisko bribes Quark into not pressing charges. Sisko agrees to compensate Quark's for his lost profits and damaged clothes as well as to let some illegal merchandise pass security. Quark loves the idea, not just because of his economic gain but also because Sisko reaffirms Quark's faith in the 98th Rule of Acquisition: "Every man has his price."

As his log continues...

"So I pushed on. And every time another doubt appeared before me, I just found another way to shove it aside."

The next step in the plan is to obtain a genuine Cardassian data rod. Garak, by some "minor miracle," finds a seller of one; unfortunately, the price is quite high: 200 liters of biomimetic gel, a dangerous and controlled substance. Sisko at first rejects the idea, but Garak tells him that finding another will be impossible, so Sisko reluctantly agrees to the trade, and they negotiate the quantity down to 85 liters. Doctor Bashir is appalled at the thought of having to prepare the gel and does so only after demanding written orders, endorsed by Starfleet, and even then over his explicit objection and protest.

Sisko, Garak, and Tolar obtain the rod and begin preparing a convincing recording in which Weyoun and Damar plan the invasion of Romulus, making sure to have the two squabble with each other and appear as "real" as possible. The program is recorded onto the rod, and the forgery is complete. To ensure that the fake will pass (though it has already been encoded on the single-use data rod), Sisko threatens Tolar with an unpleasant execution at the hands of Gowron if the forgery is flawed. Tolar is further unnerved when Garak says he will stop by his quarters ("to say hello").

As his log continues...

"Maybe... I was under more pressure than I realized. Maybe it really was starting to get to me, but I was off the hook. Starfleet Command had given the plan their blessing and I thought that would make things easier. But I was the one who had to make it happen. I was the one who had to look Senator Vreenak in the eye and convince him that a lie... was the truth."
Sisko shows Vreenak the program

Sisko at this point is getting nervous, as Senator Vreenak comes to the station in a cloaked Romulan shuttle. Before Sisko greets Vreenak, Garak tells him he plans to covertly inspect the Senator's ship (for anything "useful"), and leaves. Vreenak egotistically dresses down Sisko when the two meet.

[edit] Act Four

Vreenak and Sisko discuss the fate of their respective worlds over a bottle of kali-fal, at which point Sisko tells Vreenak that he has learned that the Dominion is planning a surprise attack on the Romulans. Vreenak, naturally, demands proof, at which time Sisko presents his forgery. Vreenak demands to inspect the data rod. Vreenak, in typical Romulan fashion, takes his time inspecting the rod, during which time Sisko, as he indicates in his log, is anxious.

As his log continues...

"So all I could do was wait... and see how masterful Tolar's forgery really was. So I waited...tried to catch up on my paperwork, but I find it very difficult to focus on criminal activity reports, cargo manifests... So I went back to pacing, staring out of the window. I'm not an impatient man, I'm not one to agonize over decisions once they're made. I got that from my father. He always says, "worry and doubt are the greatest enemies of a great chef, the soufflé will either rise or it won't, there's not a damn thing you can do about it so you might as well just sit back and wait and see what happens," but this time the cost of failure was so high, I found it difficult to take his advice. If Vreenak discovered that the data rod was a forgery, if he realized that we were trying to trick them into the war it could push the Romulans even farther into the enemy camp. They could start to openly help the Dominion. If worst came to worst they could actually join the war against us. I had the distinct feeling that victory or defeat would be decided in the next few minutes."

Sisko attempts, in vain, to calm his worries, until Vreenak finally calls Sisko to pronounce his judgment. Vreenak furiously confronts Sisko, declaring the rod to be an absolute fake.

"It's a FAAAAAKE!"

[edit] Act Five

"So it all blew up in my face. The lies and the compromises, the inner doubts and the rationalizations – all for nothing. Vreenak was furious. I can't say I blamed him. I'd have reacted the same way. After telling me in no uncertain terms that he intended to expose this "vile deception" to the entire Alpha Quadrant, he got back in his shuttle and headed home. There didn't seem to be anything more to do... so I went back to work. Two days later we got the news."

Sisko learns that Vreenak's shuttle has conveniently exploded, killing the senator. Sisko quickly realizes that Garak was behind this, and he confronts Garak in his shop, with a fist to the face. Garak demands a chance to explain and outlines the actual plan.

Although Garak did have hopes that the rod would pass inspection, he realized that the opposite was likely, that the forgery may well not pass Vreenak's inspection. Garak had planted a bomb on the Romulan shuttle, and he had made its destruction look like Dominion sabotage. To the Tal Shiar it will appear that the Dominion destroyed the shuttle. And in the wreckage they will find a badly damaged data rod containing damning evidence that the Dominion was going to betray the Romulans, the damage to the rod masking the imperfections in the forgery. It will appear that Vreenak was on his way to expose the Dominion before being blown up. As for Tolar, the forger, Garak describes him as a "casualty of war." whom Garak eliminated.

Sisko is furious and berates Garak before realizing the real plan, although morally distasteful in nature, was a well-executed and necessary one in the face of the dire military and diplomatic realities the Federation is facing. In fact, it succeeds.

As his log continues...

"At oh-eight-hundred hours, station time... the Romulan Empire formally declared war against the Dominion. They've already struck fifteen bases along the Cardassian border. So, this is a huge victory for the good guys! It may just be the turning point of the entire war! There's even a "Welcome to the Fight" party tonight in the wardroom!... So... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover up the crimes of other men. I was an accessory to murder. But most damning of all... I think I can live with it... And if I had to do it all over again... I would. Garak was right about one thing – a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I'll learn to live with it...Because I can live with it...I can live with it. Computer – erase that entire personal log."

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"That was the moment I made the decision. It was like I had stepped through a door and locked it behind me. I was going to bring the Romulans into the war."

- Benjamin Sisko


"My father used to say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

- Sisko


"If you want to guarantee that we obtain evidence of a Dominion plot to attack the Romulans, I suggest that we manufacture that evidence ourselves."

- Elim Garak


"They will ask how we got it"
"We obtained it through various covert means, oh and at great cost to the Federation, like at least 10 good men gave up their lives to bring it across the line. That sort of thing ."

- Sisko and Garak


"People are dying out there, every day. Entire worlds are struggling for their freedom. And here I am still worrying about the finer points of morality."

- Sisko


"Who's watching Tolar?"
"I've locked him in his quarters. I've also left him with the distinct impression that if he attempts to force the door open, it may explode."
"I hope that's just an impression."
"It's best not to dwell on such minutiae."

- Sisko and Garak


"Gul Dukat is a great man."
"Gul Dukat is a preening egotist and a fool."

- Bickering holographic recreations of Damar and Weyoun


"So you're the commander of Deep Space 9. And the Emissary to the Prophets. Decorated combat officer, widower, father, mentor... and oh yes, the man who started the war with the Dominion. Somehow I thought you'd be taller."
"Sorry to disappoint you."
"To be honest, my opinion of Starfleet officers is so low, you'd have to work very hard indeed to disappoint me."

- Senator Vreenak and Sisko


"It's a FAAAAAKE!"

- Vreenak


"That's why you came to me, isn't it captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing. Well, it worked. And you'll get what you wanted: a war between the Romulans and the Dominion. And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant, and all it cost was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal... and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain."

- Garak


"So... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all... I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing, a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it. I can live with it... Computer, erase that entire personal log."

- Sisko

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Origins

  • The working title of this episode was "Patriot".
  • The earliest origins of this episode are to be found in a discussion amongst the writers about various pivotal moments in recent US history. One such moment was the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, when a North Vietnamese gunboat allegedly attacked a US naval vessel, leading to an increased military presence in Vietnam itself, and effectively beginning the Vietnam War. Another defining moment under discussion was the 1974 Watergate scandal, which began with five men being arrested for breaking into the Watergate Complex and ended with the resignation of President Richard Nixon, who was facing an impeachment in the House of Representatives and a conviction in the Senate due to the discovery of, amongst other things, illegal political espionage, improper tax audits, unauthorized wiretapping, and secret funding hidden in Mexico. Thinking about the sheer scale of these incidents and the massive repercussions felt for years afterward by people from all walks of life, the producers asked former staff-writer and producer Peter Allan Fields to compose a story based around a political controversy involving a secret that, if discovered, could have huge consequences throughout the quadrant. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
  • Fields' original premise revolved around Jake "watergating" First Minister Shakaar. He discovers an undisclosed secret about Shakaar from his days in the Bajoran Resistance which, if it got out, would bring down the Shakaar government and throw Bajor into chaos. When Jake tells his father about the secret, Sisko tries to stop him from publishing it. However, when the staff-writers went to work on Fields' story, they couldn’t make it work, and so they altered the basic premise to Jake discovering something about his own father. Ronald D. Moore compared this premise to the film "All the President's Men". [1] This was the idea around which Michael Taylor composed his first draft of the script - the inherent conflict between Jake and Sisko. The story would begin when Jake tries to get an interview with Garak for the Federation News Service, but Garak is uninterested in being interviewed. Jake presses him, but Garak won't budge, and so Jake goes to his father to try to get him to put some pressure on Garak. However, Sisko tells him to stay away from Garak altogether. Intrigued, Jake begins to investigate, and he discovers that his father and Garak are involved in shady dealings and are trying to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War by lying to them about the Dominion's so-called plan to invade Romulan space. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
  • By the final draft of the script, which was actually written by Ronald D. Moore [2] although he is uncredited, Jake had been removed entirely. The reason for this was because the relationship between Jake and Sisko, as established in many episodes over the course of the five and a half years of the show, was simply too strong, their bond as father and son had become so pronounced that it was virtually impossible to conceive of anything destroying it; as Moore explains, "It was really no contest between Sisko and Jake, because as much as we want to, it's hard to get those two characters into conflict with each other. So it didn't really ring true. Jake was so young and Sisko was so experienced, you didn't really believe the central conflict of the show." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
  • Originally, the writers were going to have the Dominion invade Vulcan, not Betazed. The episode was structured so that at the moment Sisko begins to waver as to whether or not to carry his scheme through, a planet falls to the Dominion, serving to galvanize his resolve, but the writers didn't want to invent a new planet or name somewhere inconsequential, they wanted a planet that would carry weight for viewers, and they ultimately narrowed it down to Vulcan and Betazed. They initially decided on Vulcan, but they changed their minds when they came to the realization that "Vulcan just carried too much weight." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

[edit] Story and Script

  • The last line of this episode was based on the last line of the 1962 John Ford movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the last line of which is spoken by Tom Doniphon (John Wayne); "That's right, it was murder. But I can live with it." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
  • Sisko's line about having stepped through a door and locked it behind him, and Garak's line that attempting to force the door open may cause it to explode, serve as interesting allegories for their respective roles in the story itself. While it was Sisko who made the decision to initiate the plan to bring the Romulans into the war, it was Garak who applied the pressure that stopped Sisko from pulling out and ensured that the plan went through to its successful conclusion.
  • According to Andrew Robinson, this episode is about Garak teaching Sisko that "You can't go to bed with the Devil without having sex." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
  • Of this episode, writer Michael Taylor says, "It showed how Deep Space Nine could really stretch the Star Trek formula. It pushes the boundaries in a realistic way, because the decisions Sisko makes are the kinds of decisions that have to be made in war. They're for the greater good." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

[edit] Continuity

  • Vreenak is on his way back from Soukara when he diverts to Deep Space 9. Soukara is the planet visited by Jadzia Dax and Worf to rendezvous with the Cardassian double-agent Lasaran in "Change of Heart".
  • The Romulan nonaggression pact with the Dominion, signed in the fifth season finale "Call to Arms", is referred to numerous times in this episode.
  • It is revealed in this episode that Betazed is relatively close to Vulcan, Andoria, Tellar Prime, and Alpha Centauri. Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to Earth, approximately 4.3 light years distant. It is established in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Home" that Vulcan is approximately 16 light years from Earth. The relative proximity of all these worlds is further established throughout Star Trek: Enterprise.
  • This is the second episode in a row in which Weyoun (Jeffrey Combs) appears as a holographic simulation.
  • The Romulan shuttle is the first new Romulan ship seen since the Romulan scout ship in TNG in the late 1980s.
  • Cited Rules of Acquisition: #98 ("Every man has his price").
  • This episode builds on the fifth season episodes "The Ship" and "Nor the Battle to the Strong" insofar as it deals with the notions that during wartime, real people lose their lives every day, and that war has very real consequences. These episodes attempted to convey a sense of the horrors of war and subvert the notion that war is all about exploding starships and nameless soldiers dying anonymously; that behind a list of names are real people with families and lives. This theme would be revisited once more in the seventh season episode "The Siege of AR-558", where Sisko would once again be troubled by his own reaction, as he is in this episode, to the casualty reports sent by Starfleet.

[edit] Behind the scenes

  • This episode is presented in flashback format, with Sisko narrating a log entry in his quarters in the 'present' time, and the bulk of the episode comprising scenes from that narration. Other episodes structured like this are the second season episodes "Necessary Evil" and "Whispers".
  • Like the episode "Rules of Engagement", this episode comes close to breaking the fourth wall, with Sisko seemingly talking directly to-camera, and hence the audience. However, there is no direct acknowledgment of the audience in the episode itself, instead the viewer merely takes the perspective of the computer to which Sisko dictates his log.
  • The idea for Sisko to slowly undress as the episode progresses was director Victor Lobl's, who saw it as serving a double function; on the one hand, Sisko loosening and removing his clothing was simply to convey the passage of time as he paced around the room, on the other it was a thematic metaphor for how, as Sisko narrates his log, he is literally baring his soul.
  • Filming began on 27 January 1998 [3].
  • Colm Meaney (Miles O'Brien) and Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko) do not appear in this episode.

[edit] Reception

  • According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, this episode is generally considered by both fans and staff as the darkest Star Trek episode ever made, and the one most antithetical to Gene Roddenberry's initial views of Starfleet, the Federation and 24th century Humanity. Interestingly, the fact that the episode is so unlike Roddenberry's vision is the very reason why some fans cite it as the finest Star Trek episode ever made, while others cite it as the most disrespectful and absurdly un-Star Trek-like episode.
  • Deep Space Nine fans tend to rally around the episode, and it is constantly cited alongside such popular shows as "Duet", "Necessary Evil", "The Visitor", "Rapture" and "Far Beyond the Stars" as being the best the show had to offer. More traditional Star Trek fans however tend to look at this episode as a perfect example of how Deep Space Nine just didn't 'get' what it was to be a Star Trek show. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
  • When the series ended in 1999, a poll run in Sci-Fi Entertainment had this episode as the highest rated show of the entire seven year run, followed by "The Visitor" and "Far Beyond the Stars". Furthermore, this episode has an average rating of 4.8/5 on the official Star Trek website (as of October 14th, 2008), making it one of the highest rated episodes on the entire site.

[edit] Apocrypha

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Main Cast

[edit] Guest Stars

And

[edit] Co-Star

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

[edit] Stunt double

[edit] References

47; Andor; Betazed; biography; bio-mimetic gel; Cairo, USS; Friday; Gowron; Glintara sector; Grathon Tolar; Kalandra sector; Kali-fal; Leslie Wong; M'Pella; Neral; Obsidian Order; optolythic data rod; Orion slave girl; Romulan ale; Soukara; Tellar; Tenth Fleet; Whelan Bitters

[edit] External links


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