History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E19InThePaleMoonlight

* HopeSpot: Midway through the episode, it looks like Sisko's plan has gone off without a hitch: They've created a perfect counterfeit on an unassailable medium and delivered it to the right person to do something about it. But everything falls apart when Vreenak delivers his WhamLime: "It's a fake!"

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: A variation. This is why Garak is confident the Romulans won't believe the Dominion's protestations of innocence in Vreenak's murder. Garak knows the Romulans are so paranoid, secretive and ruthless that they would've responded to a threat like Vreenak the same the Dominion supposedly did. It would ''never'' occur to them to consider the possibility that the Dominion ''might'' just be telling the truth and that somebody set them up.

* VillainHasAPoint: An inversion. From Vreenak's perspective, it's ''Sisko'' who's the villain (as a Starfleet officer and thus an enemy of the Star Empire). Yet, Vreenak has to concede that some of Sisko ''does'' raise some good points about the post-war status qo (though he undermins it bty pouinting out it's still ultimately just speculation and wouldn't warrant abrogating the nonagression pact).

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Senator Vreenak is a SmugSnake, but he is at least willing to listen to Sisko's points and it's implied that had the data rod passed muster, he would've supported Romulus entering the war to help the Federation. Might not sound like much, but this is a [[CommanderContrarian Romulan government official]] we're talking about. Most wouldn't even have bothered to stop to listen a Starfleet officer -- though he does point out Sisko is the
one who ''started'' the war in the first place, and he takes a lot of time to gloat about it.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Vreenak is a key Romulan politico and the architect of the nonagression pact with the Dominion, yet's never been mentioned before this episode. Justified, as the Romulans have stayed out of the War since the beginning and the Federation and Klingons have been understandabl been focused on the Dominion and the Cardassians rather than the pointy-eared backstabbers.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Senator Vreenak is a SmugSnake, but he is at least willing to listen to Sisko's points and it's implied that had the data rod passed muster, he would've supported Romulus entering the war to help the Federation. Might not sound like much, but this is a [[CommanderContrarian Romulan government official]] we're talking about. Most wouldn't even have bothered to stop to listen a Starfleet officer -- though he does point out Sisko is the one who ''started'' the war in the first place, and he takes a lot of time to gloat about it.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: A variation. This is why Garak is condifent the Romulans won't believe the Dominion's protestations of innocence in Vreenak's murder. Garak knows the Romulans are so paranoid, secretive and ruthless that they would've responded to a threat like Vreenak the same the Dominion suppousedly did. It would ''never'' occur to them to consider the possibility that the Dominion ''might'' just be telling the truth and that somebody set them up.

Sisko takes custody of the odious Grathon Tolar and brings him to the station. When Tolar stabs Quark in the bar, Sisko offers Quark a bribe to avoid filing a criminal complaint, causing the surprised Ferengi to confirm that EveryManHasHisPrice. To purchase the optolythic data rod, Sisko must force Bashir against his strenuous objections to hand over a 85 litera of bio-memetic gel, a highly controlled and dangerous substance. But all of this work pays off when Tolar produces a fake briefing between Weyoun and Damar in which they plan a surprise attack on Romulus. Sisko is satisfied with the results and orders it embedded into the rod.

The senator promises to tell everyone on Romulus about Sisko's ruse. So the captain must accept that not only were his conscience-testing efforts AllForNothing, but they will all but destroy any hopes for diplomacy with the Romulans. Next Friday, as Sisko grimly delivers the weekly casualty reports, Worf arrives Worf comes in to report a casualty of his own: Senator Vreenak, whose shuttle exploded after "leaving Soukara." It doesn't take very long for Sisko to realize that Garak [[SomebodySetUsUpTheBomb hid a bomb]] on the senator's ship while it was docked. In a fury, he rushes over to Garak and punches him out.

Garak manages to calm Sisko down long enough to explain himself. Blowing up Vreenak's ship with the data rod on board will make it look like a Dominion assassination perpetrated to erase the evidence of its planned surprise attack. The damage to the rod will mask the imperfections that originally revealed it to be a forgery. Garak also won't deny [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killing Tolar]] to further cover their tracks. The spy argues that their plan has worked, and they've [[TheNeedsOfTheMany saved the Alpha Quadrant]] at the expense of [[AssholeVictim one Romulan Senator]], a criminal, and Sisko's own conscience. And that, Garak declares, is a bargain.

* TheEndsJustifyTheMeans: Just one episode after Sisko virtually declares war on Section 31 for following this philosophy, Sisko must himself indulge in any underhanded tactic he can to save the Alpha Quadrant.

* {{Main/Realpolitik}}: A foundational trope for this episode. Sisko is faced with losing the Alpha Quadrant to the brutal dictators of the Dominion unless he does something immoral. He spends the rest of the episode doing these immoral things and hating himself for it.

** Sisko at times during his personal log monologues. And it is ''glorious.''
** Vreenak as well. One need only see his "''It's a faaaake!''" line. (Ham or not, it will still freeze your blood in your veins.)

* AMillionIsAStatistic: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zigzagged:]]
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with the weekly casualty lists. We're never given a clear ''number'' for exactly how many people are dying, but it's enough to make a list in the first place, and it's enough that each week anyone looking at the list can find ''someone'' they know on it. Towards the end of the episode it's considered a "good week" when Dax can only find a friend of a friend that she only met once. A pity for the friend, though...
** Played straight with Senator Vreenak and his guards, though in this case it makes sense given that the Senator is the major player targeted ''specifically'' for his political importance, and the guards are just RedShirts.

* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Sisko goes further and further to try to get the Romulans in the war, all out of concern for both all the Starfleet personnel that keep getting killed (in a war, mind you he helped start and isn't going well for his side) and what will happen if the Dominion wins. While Sisko is outraged to see how far it ultimately goes, he finds himself unable to argue the point when Garak frames his actions as this trope and talks about what a bargain it is to save an entire quadrant at the cost of a handful of lives. Much as he hates himself for all this, Sisko admits he can live with his guilt if it means the survival of everything he holds dear.

* NotSoAboveItAll: As so gleefully noted by Quark after Sisko bribes him to drop the charges against Tolar.
--> '''Quark:''' Thank you for restoring my faith in the 98th Rule of Acquisition: "EveryManHasHisPrice."

* PragmaticVillainy: While Odo notes that Quark's chivalrous attempts to defend one of his Dabo girls from Grathon Tolar's drunken assault seems rather "uncharacteristic" of him, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that Quark was merely trying to keep his business running smoothly and therefore took issue with Grathon Tolar's making trouble for one of his employees who was (in Odo's words) "otherwise engaged" (presumably running the Dabo wheel) at the time.
* {{Main/Realpolitik}}: A foundational trope for this episode. As previously established in "A Call To Arms", the Romulans have signed a non-aggression pact with the Dominion; this episode reveals that the Romulans have been allowing Dominion supply convoys to transit their territory where Alliance forces can't touch them. As Sisko and Dax's diplomatic roleplay in the first act of the episode shows, the Romulans are allowing this because it weakens their long-time rivals (the Federation and the Klingon Empire), because the Dominion looks like it will be the victors at this point in the war, and although it's a guarantee the Romulans will be the next target on the list after the Alliance falls, they stand to gain nothing from joining them without tangible evidence of this duplicity.
** Garak has proven that in the past that short of betraying Cardassia or needlessly torturing someone he cares about, there is nothing he won't do. Naturally when attempting to persuade Vreenak doesn't work, he doesn't hesistate to assassinate him after Sisko has given up.
** Odo points out that whatever Sisko wants Tolar around for, he will have to arrest him if Quark choses to press charges. The only way Sisko can avoid that is to bribe Quark, much to Quark's pleasure as he is delighted to force Sisko to meet his terms and to see that he's not above bribery.

* TheNeedsOfTheMany: How Garak justifies killing Vreenak. In the end, Sisko is forced to accept it.
-->'''Garak:''' 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.

* WhamEpisode: The Romulans enter and change the dynamic of the war.
** Making it whammier is that Sisko ''lied and cheated'' to get them to join the war.
** Further, Sisko is expressly complicit in at least two murders, and possibly more depending on what the biomemetic gel was for, with possibilities including illegal genetic experimentation, biological weapons, and organic explosives.

* XanatosGambit: Garak states that he ''did'' have high hopes that the data rod would pass inspection, which would have provoked the Romulans into entering the war against the Dominion; however, it's likely he knew it wouldn't have a snowball's chance of succeeding. When it did not pass, he then used a bomb which he had prepared and planted aboard the senator's vessel, which in detonating provided a solid explanation for any flaws in the data rod and/or the recording, prompting the Romulans to consider it genuine and enter the war against the Dominion.

Sisko is dictating his personal log to justify the actions he's taken over the past two weeks. We flash back to two Fridays prior, when Dax and Bashir lament the friends they've spotted on the latest casualty reports. The Cardassians are cutting through Romulan space without permission to attack Federation planets, and the Starfleet officers wonder what it will take for the Romulans to break their non-agression treaty and join against the Dominion. Narrating his personal log, Sisko says that at that moment he became determined to bring the Romulans into the war.

Garak proposes sending an invitation to the Romulan Senator Vreenak (Creator/StephenMcHattie), the most hardline supporter of the treaty, and present him proof of a planned Dominion surprise attack. If he's convinced, then the Senate will follow. To create the fake records, they'll rescue a certain counterfeiter Grathon Tolar from a Klingon prison. And to sell the counterfeit's authenticity, they'll purchase a Cardassian optolythic data rod to put it on. His misgivings growing, Sisko nonetheless agrees to Garak's proposal, pending Starfleet approval.

* CurbStompBattle:
** Not surprisingly, the flighty bohemian planet that is Betazed, with its antiquated defense systems and the nearest fleet caught off-guard, stood no chance against the Dominion. The entire planet was conquered in 10 hours.
** Diplomatic Version: Dax, pretending to be the Romulan Proconsul, wipes the floor with Sisko when Sisko tries to plead his case for the Romulans to join the war as the Federation's allies.

*** Not only is it highly-controlled and dangerous, it's also rare and not produced in large quantities: the contact initially asked for 200 liters of bio-mimetic gel, which Sisko balked at as absurd, because there physically isn't that much gel in the ''entire Bajor sector''. They have to haggle the contact down to 85 liters. Sisko's eyes nearly shoot out of his head when Garak gives the figure, considering that [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E18DistantVoices Bashir was nearly killed for a few hundred ''milliliters'' of the substance]]. In a real-life scenario, it is equivalent to an anonymous contact not asking for "a pound of anthrax" but "a big ''dump truck'' full of anthrax", no questions asked.

-->'''Sisko:''' But the most damning thing of all ... [[ICanLiveWithThat I think I can live with it]]. And if I'd have to do it all over again, I would.
** It's not at all clear that he succeeds.
--->'''Sisko:''' 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.

* SarcasmMode: Sisko's bitterly triumphant announcement of the Romulans' entry into the war, alluding to a BlackAndWhiteMorality that, like Tolar and Vreenak, has lately been rendered [[InsistentTerminology another tragic casualty]] of this miserable war:
-->'''Sisko:''' So this is a ''huge'' victory for the good guys!

* HopeSpot: Part of what makes this episode so brutally effective is the manner in which, at every obstacle, a safe and morally passable solution is proposed, only to fail. But the writers keep turning their screws so carefully that we don't suspect a thing and keep waiting for a morally clean resolution that never comes.

* ICanLiveWithThat: Sisko, at the conclusion of his monologue. Then he orders the computer to delete the entire log.

--->'''Garak:''' Think of them both as "tragic victims of war".\\
'''Sisko:''' ''([[TalkToTheFist punches Garak again]])''
* IdiotBall: Held firmly by Vreenak as part of the Romulan [[PlanetOfHats hat]] for secrecy and backstabbing and the sensitive position of being caught in a Federation intelligence trap that could have lead to a war. He arrives in a cloaked shuttle and the Romulans don't realise he's visited the station or perhaps didn't want to admit that they were involved in their own high level diplomatic meetings with the Dominion. It also doesn't appear that he sent any messages about it before he gets blown up which could have been Garak sabotaging the systems as part of his plot to blow up the shuttle. There's also the option that his fellow high ranking Romulans did get a message and ignored it because they agreed with Sisko that they were next and wanted to join the war, and another that Vreenak concluded that his position on joining the war was still correct but also didn't want to make the Romulan-Federation relationship worse.

* InJoke: There's a very subtle one in-story in Garak's script for the fake recording. As detailed under Teeth Clenched Teamwork, Garak's final polish adds some petty bickering and mutual loathing between 'Weyoun' and 'Damar' to make them appear more realistic. 'Weyoun' specifically takes potshots at Dukat with 'Damar' angirly coming to the defense of his former superior and mentor. However, don't forget that Garak and Dukat ''hate'' one another, not to mention that Dukat's daughter, Ziyal, is mentioned, with whom Garak had a relationship with. So apart from selling the realism of the characters, it's ''also'' Garak taking his own personal potshots at his old rival (and with no one the wiser).

** Starfleet did not anticipate the attack on Betazed would come through the Kalandra sector as it was deemed too far from the Dominion's supply lines. The Tenth fleet being out of position on a training exercise also counts.

* DispenseWithThePleasantries: Sisko is in no mood for Garak's brand of loquaciousness.
--> '''Garak:''' I must say I'm flattered, Captain. I had no idea you held such a lofty opinion of me. Your faith in my ability to retrieve classified information from my former homeland is most gratifying.\\
'''Sisko:''' Mister Garak, let's dispense with the usual repartee and concentrate on the issue at hand. Can you do it or not?

* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Vreenak meeting Sisko:
--> '''Vreenak:''' So you're the commander of Deep Space Nine. And the Emissary of 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.\\
'''Sisko:''' Sorry to disappoint you.\\
'''Vreenak:''' To be honest, my opinion of Starfleet officers is so low, you'd have to work very hard indeed to disappoint me.
* FalseFlagOperation: Sisko puts aside his principles to get the Romulans to join the war against the Dominion. First a holographic recording is faked to make it appear that the Dominion were intending to attack the Romulans, and when this falls through, the Romulan ambassador is assassinated to make it appear that the Dominion didn't want the truth to be discovered. Turns out that Garak had, without Sisko's knowledge, set up a KansasCityShuffle; a "perfect" version of the fake recording was unlikely to pass inspection, but a damaged one found in the wreckage of a dead Romulan's shuttle which exploded while returning from Dominion space would be ''highly'' believable.

--->"It really is a good imitation. For a moment I forgot it wasn't the real thing. But only for a moment."

** At one point, Garak advises Sisko to tell the Senator that "Good men died getting this data rod," in order to make it more convincing that it's crucial evidence. This isn't long after Garak has told Sisko that all his contacts on Cardassia died trying to find ''actual'' evidence on the Dominion plotting to invade the Romulan Empire. To the careful viewer, it's the first indication that Garak's playing a deeper game.
** When Sisko first hires Garak to find actual evidence, Garak warns Sisko that this may be "very messy, very bloody business", asking Sisko if he's ready for that. This is the first hint that Garak already knows what will actually be required to get the Romulans into the war. Garak himself makes a CallBack to this later when Sisko confronted him, that both he and Sisko knew in that first meeting what was going to need doing, and that this was the very reason Sisko sought out Garak in the first place.
** Possible example when Bashir is protesting Sisko's order to hand over the bio-memetic gel. He lists off what it could be capable of in the wrong hands, including developing organic explosives. This ''could'' be the source of the bomb Garak uses to blow up Vreenak's ship. It depends if you subscribe to the theory that Garak lied about the Data Rod Seller, that Garak had the Rod all along, and he was suckering Sisko in order to build an explosive capable of destroying a Romulan Senatorial shuttle.

** The point of the whole episode. Sisko does many despicable things, and would do them again if he had to. The concluding monologue comes very close to HeelRealization.
* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold:
** Since Sisko deletes the log, only he and Garak know what ''really'' happened.
** We also don't know how Vreenak was able to determine that the holographic recording was a forgery.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Sisko notes that a key factor in Betazed being conquered by the Dominion is that the nearest Starfleet battle group was "caught out of position on a training exercise". In the middle of an all-out war. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Somebody at Starfleet Command should be losing their job over that one.]]
** Considering that there may have been [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E12ParadiseLost Changeling infiltrators in Starfleet]], it's entirely possible that one of them not only knew about the lack of patrols in the Kalandra sector, but also knew about the training exercise. It's even possible that the infiltrator was posing as a member of the Admiralty and ordered the training exercise itself.
** It's said in the episode that Betazed was too far from the supply lines to be considered a viable target, while other expanded universe material offers the suggestion that even the Betazoids believed that they were not likely to be targeted because of their peaceful ways, that there were certainly other, more appetizing military targets, with that belief only making them a more prime target, with older sentry systems protecting the planet that the Jem'Hadar could easily overwhelm.

* ChekhovsGun: When Vreenak's shuttle arrives, apparently no one knows that it is even coming. It lands on the docking ring while cloaked, while Worf has already secured a portion of the station including said shuttlepad, a holosuite, and a nearby wardroom (with only Sisko and Garak having access), and Kira only mentioning the shuttle's arrival to Sisko as a "secure transmission". Not only that, Garak suggests he'll look around the shuttle as a way to gather intel. It is later revealed that this was deliberate, so that not only can Garak blow the shuttle up, but that the only witnesses to Vreenak ever visiting the station are Sisko and Garak. This gun is actually fired by Worf, as when he reports to Sisko about Vreenak's death, he clearly is unaware of Vreenak's visit to Deep Space Nine despite the security arrangements, and only refers to the senator as coming from Soukara.

* BaitAndSwitch: Sisko's opening monologue makes it sound like he's going to tell the story of a terrible mistake he made, and by the time Vreenak discovers the data rod is a forgery it appears that the mistake he's confessing is his plan backfiring to cause the Romulans to join the war on the side of the Dominion. Then the truth of Garak's plan comes out and it turns out Sisko's plan worked perfectly, possibly saving the Alpha Quadrant -- [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone and he still considers it a terrible mistake]]. [[TheEndOrIsIt Or does he?]]

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: {{Subverted}}, which is the root cause of Sisko's unease; in order for "the Good Guys" (the Federation) to defeat "The Bad Guys" (The Dominion), Sisko must engage in duplicitous and in some cases outright illegal maneuvers, things a "Good Guy" Starfleet officer would never do. And just to ram the point in further Quark, the resident money-grubbing Ferengi barman and hobbyiest blackmarketeer, is given a rare moment of unambiguous heroicism when he saves one of his employees from Tolar- a criminal Sisko brought in to work on his plan- and almost dies in the process. Naturally, Quark milks the opportunity for everything he can when Sisko essentially offers him a blank check to keep quiet about it, which does Sisko's conscience no favors.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Many critics have noted how Sisko delivers the CaptainsLog in an almost Shakespearean manner, monologuing directly into the camera about his horrible deeds, as if [[GrayAndGreyMorality daring the audience to find fault with them]].

* AntiHero:
** At the end of the episode, Sisko lists the numerous ways he's violated the law and his own integrity for the sake of the Federation.
** Same for Starfleet and the Federation itself, as they explicitly allowed Sisko to get the Romulans into the war at any cost. Albeit the original plan was only to frame the Dominion for planning to break their non-aggression pact and invade the Romulan Empire; Garak assassinated Senator Vreenak to help sell the FrameUp on his own initiative. It's very likely the Federation knew nothing of that part.

* AsYouKnow: Played with.
-->'''Garak''': His name is Vreenak. He's been a key member of the Romulan Senate for the past fourteen years. He's Secretary of the War Plans Council, Vice Chairman of the Tal Shiar, and one of the most trusted advisors to Proconsul Neral.\\
'''Sisko''': He's also the man that negotiated the non-aggression pact with the Dominion.\\
'''Garak''': Since you're familiar with him, I'll skip the rest of his biography.

** Grathon Tolar. He was already slated for execution by the Klingons. While on the station, he attacked one of Quark's Dabo girls for refusing to dance with him, and stabbed Quark for trying to defend her. Judging by how he behaved while on parole, the Klingons may have had very good reasons indeed to want him dead. Garak also may well have selected Tolar due to how expendable he was just as much as his considerable, yet "not quite up to the task" forging skills.

* AssInAmbassador: Vreenak is a real piece of work, and insults Sisko and all of Starfleet ''to his face'' in [[EstablishingCharacterMoment their very first conversation together.]] One of the episode's many fascinating moral ambiguities is the way that you might find yourself, almost unconsciously, cheering to find out that Garak [[AssholeVictim had his ship blown up.]]

* AmbiguousSituation:
** Was it Garak's plan to kill Vreenak the entire time?
** Was Sisko ordering the deletion of the personal log [[WhatYouAreInTheDark him showing he was lying to himself about living with his actions]], or did he well and truly mean he could live with them, and deleted the log in order to get rid of further evidence?

->'''Sisko:''' Captain's Personal Log: Stardate 5-1-7 ... ''(unsure)'' 5-1-7 ... 4? Computer -- what day is it?\\
'''Computer Voice:''' [[AC:Stardate 51721.3.]]\\
'''Sisko:''' It's only been two weeks ... I need to talk about this. [[HowWeGotHere I have to justify what's happened -- what I've done -- at least to myself]]. I can't talk to anyone else, not even to Dax. Maybe if I just lay it all out in my log, it'll finally make sense ... I can see where it all went wrong ... [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone where ''I'' went wrong]]. I suppose it started two weeks ago, while 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. [[HatingOnMonday I've grown to hate Fridays]].

It's Friday, which has become Sisko's least favourite day of the week. This is when he posts the casualty list from the war. And on this particular day, Dax is distraught when she finds out that her old Academy instructor is amongst them as her ship, the U.S.S. Cairo, has gone missing and presumed destroyed. When Bashir asks about what happened to the Cairo, Dax says it is likely the same story that befell other ships near Romulan space: that the Dominion crossed into Romulan Territory and attacked the Cairo. The senior staff are puzzled as to why the Romulan Empire would allow such a gross violation of its territory, but realize that since the Romulans have signed a non-aggression pact with the Dominion, they are perfectly happy to allow this occurrence to continue. That was the moment when Sisko realizes that he needs to get the Romulans into the war.
->'''Sisko:''' 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.

After an initial parlay with Dax pretending to be the Romulan Procounsul (and diplomatically wiping the floor with Sisko in the process), they decide that the best way to convince the Romulans would be to see if the Cardassian Empire, now part of the Dominion, would have any information on any plans for the Romulans should the Dominion win the war. The most obvious approach to this would be to recruit Garak to see if his connections can yield any fruit. Garak agrees to Sisko's request to find out this information.
->'''Sisko:''' 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.\\
''[commercial break]''\\
'''Sisko:''' If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that bad news invariably comes in the middle of the night.

[[FromBadToWorse Sisko learns from Major Kira that the Dominion has invaded Betazed]]. With the Dominion now occupying a significant chunk of Federation space, Sisko is even more desperate for any information that the Cardassians may have on them. But when he asks Garak for an update, Garak morosely informs Sisko that all his contacts are now dead once the Dominion found out they were talking to him. But Garak has another idea, and that is to manufacture the evidence themselves.
->'''Sisko:''' 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's idea is to invite a particular Romulan Senator, Vreenak (Creator/StephenMcHattie), to the station. Vreenak, the architect of the non-agression pact with the Dominion, wields considerable influence in Romulan politics. In fact, Vreenak is visiting Cardassian space to attend a conference on Soukara. The plan is for Sisko to invite Vreenak to Deep Space 9 while on his way back to Romulan space. Here, Sisko would present information of these "war plans" to Vreenak with a Cardassian optolythic data rod while saying that a covert mission to obtain the rod ended up with many casualties. But before they can begin, they need to get a certain person away from being executed by the Klingons: Grathon Tolar. Sisko is able to arrange Tolar's release and informs Tolar that the terms of his release is to make a special holographic recording that will detail the Dominion's "plans" to invade the Romulan Empire. Tolar initially agrees but [[OhCrap has a moment of apprehension when he realizes that Garak is on the station.]]
->'''Sisko:''' 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.

While in his office, Sisko gets a notification from Odo that Tolar attacked Quark after the latter tried to protect a Dabo girl from Tolar's advances. Quark wants to press charges, but Sisko negotiates a deal with him so that Quark will be compensated for the loss of revenue as well as getting several lots of merchandise under impound released. The Ferengi is happy to accept a deal, noting the 98th Rule of Acquisition: ''EveryManHasHisPrice.''
->'''Sisko:''' That was my first moment of real doubt, when I started to wonder if the whole thing was a mistake. So I went back to my office. And there was a new casualty list waiting for me. 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! No, I had to keep my eye on the ball! Winning the war, stopping the bloodshed, those were the priorities! So I pushed on. And every time another doubt appeared before me, I just found another way to shove it aside.

Garak finds Sisko in a turbolift and tells him that he has located a genuine Cardassian optolythic data rod. However, the asking price of this data rod floors Sisko: 200 liters of biomimetic gel, a very dangerous substance that, you will recall, [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E18DistantVoices someone very nearly killed Bashir over]]. Not surprisingly, Bashir is aghast at this very request, but Sisko (having initially balked at it himself, then later telling Garak that he can only get as much as is available in the sector, which turns out to be 85 liters) is insistent and orders Bashir to prepare the shipment. In the meantime, Tolar finishes recording his work of Weyoun and Damar supposedly planning an invasion of Romulus. Tolar tries to leave, but Sisko prevents him and has him confined to quarters while Garak promises to pay him a visit while the Romulan Delegation is on Deep Space Nine.
->'''Sisko:''' 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.

Senator Vreenak arrives on Deep Space Nine while on his way back from Soukara. [[ChekhovsGun His arrival appears to be in secret]]: Worf has secured a section of the station that includes a shuttlepad and a nearby wardroom, while Kira only mentions a secure transmission that only Sisko is aware of. On top of that, the shuttle arrives while cloaked. Once he disembarks the shuttle, Vreenak pretty much cuts to the chase, [[AssInAmbassador already declaring the war against the Dominion to be a lost cause]]. Sisko tries to point out that if the Dominion does win, [[WonTheWarLostThePeace then the Romulan Empire would end up being surrounded as most of the Alpha Quadrant would be occupied]]. Vreenak remains unconvinced. Sisko was clearly hoping to try to convince Vreenak without having to use the recording but now has no choice. Sisko and Vreenak view the recording and Vreenak asks for the data rod for further examination.
->'''Sisko:''' 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 found 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. [[EndangeredSouffle 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 worse 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 returns to the wardroom where Vreenak is waiting. Then, after telling his guards to wait outside...
->'''Vreenak: [[LargeHam IT'S A FAAAKE!!!]]'''\\
'''Sisko:''' ''("OhCrap" face)''

->'''Sisko:''' So it all blew up in my face. All the lies and the compromises, the inner doubts and the rationalizations – AllForNothing. 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.

Once again it's Friday with the weekly casualty list, and while Dax and Bashir have nothing significant to report (which really is good news), Worf comes in to report a casualty of his own: Senator Vreenak, whose shuttle had exploded after "leaving Soukara". It doesn't take very long for Sisko to realize [[SomebodySetUsUpTheBomb what REALLY happened]] and [[TranquilFury he hastily excuses himself]]. He makes his way to Garak's shop where he promptly decks Garak. Sisko lands another punch when he realizes that Garak had also killed Tolar.

Garak on the other hand yells at Sisko to calm down and tells him that they will likely convince the Romulans to join the war effort on their side. You see, that shuttle explosion had two different purposes. The first was to get rid of a staunch Dominion ally, not to mention the only other witness to the recording fiasco. The second purpose turns out to be the data rod itself: Garak had suspected that Tolar couldn't make a forgery good enough to withstand the scrutiny the Romulans would place it under. Garak further explains that when the Tal Shiar examines the wreckage, not only will they find the data rod, the rod will be in such bad shape that any flaws originally discovered by Vreenak would appear to be due to the damage sustained from the explosion. From there, they'll draw the obvious implication: that a Romulan Senator had uncovered plans that detailed the invasion of Romulus, and that the Dominion had him assassinated to prevent anyone from finding out. Garak then chews into Sisko, noting that the very reason Sisko went to Garak in the first place was because he could do all these actions without regret, [[{{Hypocrite}} whereas Sisko would have trouble even contemplating them.]] To that, Garak tells Sisko that despite the latter's protests, [[TheNeedsOfTheMany he may very well have saved the entire Alpha Quadrant]] and that it cost him the life of [[AssholeVictim one Romulan Senator]] ([[WhatMeasureIsAMook and his guards]]), a criminal ([[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness easily forgotten]]), and Sisko's own conscience. And that, Garak declares, is a bargain.

->'''Sisko:''' At 0800 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! This may even be the turning point of the entire war! There's even a "Welcome to the Fight" party tonight in the wardroom! [[ListOfTransgressions So... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover up the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder.]] But most damning of all, I think I can live with it. [[IDidWhatIHadToDo And if I had to do it all over again, I would.]] [[TheNeedsOfTheMany 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.

->[[ICanLiveWithThat I can live with it.]]

->[[BaitAndSwitch Computer – erase that entire personal log.]]

** Garak later actually does this to Vreenak's shuttle offscreen [[TimeForPlanB as an insurance plan]] if the rod were to fail inspection -- which it does.

** The ''USS Cairo'' was the ship commanded by Captain Jellico before his temporary transfer to the ''Enterprise'' in Next Generation's episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E10ChainOfCommand Chain Of Command]]. Jellico was no longer on the Cairo at that point.

* IdiotBall: Held firmly by Vreenak. Not only does he decide to arrive while cloaked (and thus not allowing his visit to be recorded by the station), he apparently also didn't make mention of his visit to Deep Space Nine in the shuttle's log. At best he should have chosen to broadcast some news of Federation duplicity to Romulus immediately after departing. Unfortunately, his inaction would prove to be crucial to Garak's ultimate plan.
** That said, it is entirely possible that Garak was CrazyPrepared enough to disable the Romulan shuttlecraft's long-range communications system and any log-recording devices on board (assuming there were any) during the time that he had to snoop around and set his bomb, so that Vreenak couldn't convey a message home to Romulus and ''had'' to head there in person.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Vreenak offers cold hard facts of the current situation: the Dominion has fully functional shipyards, an ever-increasing Jem'Hadar population, and a commitment to win the war at any cost. On the other side, the Federation is still rebuilding its shipyards, has a manpower shortage due to attrition, and has already sent out peace feelers.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with the weekly casualty lists. We're never given a clear ''number'' for exactly how many people are dying, but it's enough to make a list in the first place, and it's enough that each anyone looking at the list can find ''someone'' they know on it. Towards the end of the episode it's considered a "good week" when Dax can only find a friend of a friend that she only met once. A pity for the friend, though...