Line #20 Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E18BusinessAsUsual


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ds9_businessasusual_587.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The face you make when unstoppable greed meets an immovable conscience.]]
3	Dax is playing Tongo with Quark and getting irritated by his distraction. The morose Ferengi reveals that his finances have all recently been wiped out, and he has only one week to pay off loans or lose his bar. But then his cousin Gaila arrives and offers to cut him in on his arms dealing business, promising Quark that within a year, he'll earn enough to buy his own moon. In spite of his reservations about the arms trade, Quark agrees.
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5	Quark meets Gaila's partner Hagath and the pair assure him that they won't ask him to bring weapons onto the station. Hagath takes an instant liking to Quark but warns him, "Never cross me." Quark uses his holosuites to give buyers demonstrations with holographic replicas of their wares and proves to be an excellent salesmen. Hagath funnels Quark's earnings directly to his creditors to make sure that he doesn't become compromised by his debts. The group is riding high until Odo storms in on Quark and arrests him for selling weapons without a license. But then Sisko and Kira arrive and announce that Hagath and Gaila have been granted clemency by the Bajoran Provisional Government in thanks for selling them the arms that they used to win their freedom. Odo releases Quark reluctantly, but everyone warns him that he's on precariously thin ice with the law.
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7	Quark is treated as an outcast by Federation citizens on the station, but he's still got his arm deals running. He's given pause when Hagath confronts one of his other business partners, Farrak, for poor performance and fires him on the spot. Gaila confides in Quark that he's thinking of retiring and giving Quark a greater stake in the business, but the deal doesn't sound so inviting after Gaila mentions that Hagath had Farrak killed on his flight from the station.
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9	The trio's next big customer is the Regent of Palamar, who wants to buy a bio-weapon to kill upwards of 28 million people in a strike against his rival, General Nassuc. Horrified, Quark urges the Regent to reconsider such a brutal action, but Hagath coldly brushes Quark's objections aside. Gaila later confronts Quark and tries to convince him to set his conscience aside in the name of profit. Caught between a genocide and a murderous partner, Quark reaches out to Dax for support, but she won't listen to him. He has a nightmare about the station all being ghosts and blaming him for their deaths.
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11	While all this has been going on, O'Brien has been unable to let go of his son Kirayoshi without the boy crying, so he's been forced to take him everywhere. He realizes that a certain section of Ops lulls the baby asleep, but it's only a temporary solution. Ultimately he takes a few days off, and Worf visits. When O'Brien hands the baby over to Worf for a moment, Kirayoshi falls alseep, and O'Brien promptly passes out himself.
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13	Quark tells Hagath that he could not get the weapons that the Regent wanted but has an alternative, so they'll need to meet with the Regent again to discuss it. Afterward, Quark tells Gaila that he's arranged a deal with General Nassuc to double their profits and assures his cousin that all will be well as long as neither side finds out about the other. However, Quark has scheduled both deals for the same cargo bay. When the two sides meet, chaos and shooting erupts. Quark slinks away and sits down as Odo's security rushes to the scene. In the aftermath, the Regent has been killed and the General has sent assassins after Gaila and Hagath. Quark is in the clear, but Sisko saddles him with the bill for the damages to the cargo bay, which he agrees to pay off in installments.
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15	In the end, Quark and Dax have reconciled, and they're now playing Tongo again.
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17	----
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19	!!Tropes in this episode:
20	* AMillionIsAStatistic: Gaila tries to invoke this in his "one star in the sky" speech to Quark, but [[EveryoneHasStandards Quark disagrees]]. Later, Quark considers the death of the Regent (and the narrow escape of Hagath and Gaila) to be a small price to pay for saving the lives of 28 million people--a sentiment Sisko agrees with.
21	* AmbiguouslyGay: Hagath may have Talura as his sexy female arm candy, but he's also very... affectionate towards Quark, gifting the Ferengi with jewels and touching him on the lobes (the Ferengi erogenous zones) while telling him "I love you."
22	* AngerBornOfWorry: Sisko dressing down Quark in his office during the penultimate scene. Sisko's justifiably furious that Quark's attempts to sabotage the arms deal instead triggered a firefight on the Station. At the same time, though, it's heavily implied (and the Teleplay's direction confirms) that Sisko's secretly relieved that Quark's managed to get himself out of this mess.
23	* ArmsDealer: Gaila and Hagath, who do business with a number of interplanetary factions.
24	* AssholeVictim: The Regent. Neither Quark nor Sisko shed any tears over his death.
25	* BadBoss: Hagath showers his associates with praise and gifts when everything is going well, but the moment they disappoint him, he turns into seething rage and will kill them just for spite.
26	* BatmanGambit: Quark decides to turn against both Hagath and Gaila by arranging for the Regent and his mortal enemy to run into each other in the Cargo Bay, counting on the fallout to end their business.
27	* BerserkButton: For the love of God, do ''not'' do ''anything'' that will hurt Hagath's profits.
28	* BlatantLies: Quark tells Jadzia that the weapons he's selling are "strictly defensive" in nature. She doesn't buy this for a second.
29	* CallBack: This is not the first time that Gaila and his weapons business have been mentioned. Dax also brings up that time [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E08LittleGreenMen he tried to kill Quark]].
30	* ChewOutFakeOut: Quark contacts the Regent's chef to prepare a sumptuous dinner of all his favorites. Hagath pretends outrage, asking if Quark is trying to scuttle the deal.
31	--> "''This?!'' He's going to enjoy ''this?!'' [samples a plate] Well, he should, it's delicious."
32	* ChewingTheScenery: It's a miracle [=DS9=]'s hulls are still intact with the way Hagath articulated his lines.
33	* ContinuityNod:
34	** The [[Recap/StarTrekS1E18Arena Metrons]] are mentioned as being among Hagath's potential customers, though it seems a bit odd that a species previously shown to abhor violence would want to buy weapons. Perhaps the Metrons weren't so much buying the weapons as confiscating them?
35	** Worf reminds the audience that he's got a son and recalls that he never got to see him when he was an infant.
36	* CutenessProximity: Everybody in Ops is distracted by Kirayoshi sleeping.
37	* DidntSeeThatComing: Quark tries to pull this with regards to the firefight that he caused in the cargo bay between the Regent's and Nassuc's forces, claiming that all he wanted to happen was for the two groups to both pull a ScrewThisImOuttaHere. Sisko doesn't buy this for a moment, but whether or not Quark was being sincere, it's clear that the latter ''definitely'' didn't intend for the Regent to end up dead; not that either he or Sisko minds.
38	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: When Gaila sees Dax, he describes a clothed woman as "titillating" while rubbing his lobes -- a well-known erogenous zone.
39	* EasilyForgiven: Despite their justified anger, Sisko and Jadzia (and by proxy, the rest of the Cast) are back on speaking terms with Quark after he sabotages the deal. In Sisko's case, though, that ''doesn't'' stop him from making his forgiveness expensive for Quark (by forcing him to pay for the repairs to Cargo Bay 5).
40	* EveryoneHasStandards: Even though Quark is as greedy as the next Ferengi and open to all sorts of shady dealings, he's never been interested in the arms business. When it becomes clear that his wares will kill millions of people, it's too much for Quark's conscience.
41	* EvilBrit: Hagath. He ''is'' played by Steven Berkoff, after all.
42	* EvilIsHammy: Hagath sells weapons, not subtlety.
43	-->"So let's forgo any further attempts at jocularity, shall we? And get down to THE BUSINESS!"
44	* FauxAffablyEvil: Hagath appears jovial and kind, seeing to it that all of Quark's debts are settled and gives him a set of rare glass beads as a token of his appreciation. Just don't make him lose his temper. [[BadBoss Because he will actually have you murdered.]]
45	* ICanLiveWithThat: Quark's reaction to the narrow escape of Hagath and Gaila from the station. He also has this reaction to the death of the Regent:
46	--> '''Quark:''' I can live with that, too. And I can think of twenty-eight million other people who won't mind either. \
47	'''Sisko:''' Twenty-eight million... and ''one''.
48	* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Hagath and Gaila reminisce about how people said they were crazy for wanting to sell weapons to the Bajoran resistance.
49	-->'''Hagath:''' What chance do they have? Invest in a winner, sell to the Cardassians.
50	* KarmicShunning: Quark is freed after his arrest because Hagath has pull with the Bajoran government (he sold them arms) and Quark doesn't sell arms at the station -- he just gives demos in his hole-suites. While clear of the law, the crew of [=DS9=] shun Quark and Federation officers avoid his bar.
51	* LetsYouAndHimFight: How Quark sets things up to get out of the weapons deal while forcing Hagath and Gaila to flee for their lives.
52	* LoanShark: Quark is facing a ''lot'' of business debts about to come due, with what are implied to be dire consequences if he doesn't pay up.
53	* LoopholeAbuse: Quark knows that Odo would ''never'' allow any weapons onto the station, so buyers are given demonstrations using holographic replicas instead. All the actual shipping takes place outside Federation territory, so they can't get busted by Starfleet. Odo acknowledges it later after detaining Quark, noting it's a mere technicality and it won't hold up legally (at least until he's forced to let Quark go on the orders of the Bajoran Government).
54	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Hagath has Farrakk killed in a warp core explosion. It's implied that this is how he deals with everyone who makes a screw up that hurts his profit.
55	* MistakenForTransformed: Knowing that Odo wouldn't approve of the newest business venture, Quark is quickly reduced to checking the barstools just in case one of them might be a disguised Changeling, even taking the glass out of Gaila's hand and dipping his finger in it. Gaila exasperatedly reminds him that they saw Odo walking down the promenade just five minutes ago - not that this helps Quark's paranoia in the slightest.
56	* MoodWhiplash: The A-Plot is Quark wrestling with his conscience as his new employers openly discuss ending thousands to millions of lives for profit. The B-Plot? O'Brien's baby won't stop crying.
57	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Quark, when he realizes what he's gotten himself involved in. He even whispers "What have I done?" after waking up from his GuiltInducedNightmare.
58	* OhCrap:
59	** Quark has one when the Regent wants 28 million people killed.
60	** Gaila has one when he realizes Quark invited General Nassuc (the Regent's mortal enemy) to the station.
61	** Played for BlackComedy in the penultimate scene when Sisko presents the repair bill for Cargo Bay 5 to Quark.
62	* OpinionChangingDream: Quark's nightmare of all his dead friends blaming him for getting them killed by the weapons he's selling.
63	* PetTheDog: Hagath sends Quark's earnings directly to his creditors, telling him he won't be able to enjoy his profits until all his debts are settled. But to make up for it, he gives him a set of rare glass beads that are worth a fortune so that he can enjoy some fruits of his labor.
64	* PlayingBothSides: Hagath and Gaila occasionally do this during planetary wars, but note that it's very risky. Quark decides to exploit this by inviting General Nassuc to the station and telling Gaila that is exactly what he is planning, while leading her to a [[LetsYouAndHimFight potential standoff with the Regent]].
65	* ProperlyParanoid: Just before meeting Hagath, Quark shakes the seats in his bar, worried that Odo is eavesdropping as an inanimate object, just as he has done in previous episodes. Gaila has to remind Quark that they watched him leave the promenade five minutes earlier.
66	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Despite his anger at Quark, and while he ''does'' stick Quark with the bill for the damage the firefight caused, Sisko also allows Quark to pay via an installment plan rather than a lump sum.
67	* RejectedApology: Quark tries to make amends with Dax before sabotaging the deal, knowing he will likely die, but she rebuffs him (thinking he's just trying to bribe his way back into her good graces). She's much more receptive, though, afterwards when everything is back to normal.
68	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Odo brings Quark in when he suspects him of arms dealing, but as it turns out, his new employer Hagath helped the Bajoran Resistance and made their independence possible. As such, the Bajoran government, owing a boon to Hagath, lets Quark walk. Hagath and Gaila reveal that they sold to the Bajorans specifically to make a valuable connection.
69	* ShoutOut:
70	** Gaila's speech to Quark about whether Quark should care about some people he doesn't know and will never meet is very similar to Harry Lime's speech in ''Film/TheThirdMan''.
71	** The Breen weapon that Quark demonstrates is designated CRM-114, which was the B-52 radio encryption set in ''Film/DrStrangelove''.
72	** Hagath's dialogue with Quark parallels an exchange from ''Film/{{Scarface\|1983}}'':
73	--->'''Hagath:''' Don't cross me, Quark. Don't you ever cross me.
74	* SpecialGuest: Creator/StevenBerkoff as Hagath.
75	* StatusQuoIsGod: Played with. The episode premise is Quark taking a new job that will make him a ton of money and allow him to pay his debts, but it alienates his friends in the Federation, and by the end of the episode Quark is back at the bar still in debt and has mended his bridges. However, his time working with Hagath ''did'' allow him to pay off his debts, and his new debts are to Sisko for the repairs to the cargo bay that Quark's machinations damaged; while the fee is implied to be high, it's probably less than he owed before, and he's dealing with a much more reasonable debt collector this time.
76	* SuddenlyShouting: Hagath tends to do this at points, particularly when he tries to distract from Quark's horror at the Regent's wish to commit mass-murder by quickly saying "Let's get down to THE BUSINESS!" -- more than likely a ShoutOut to Steven Berkoff's prior role in ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' as General Orlov, who had much the same habit.
77	* TakeAThirdOption: Before the climax, Quark has two choices: continue to be part of the weapons deal and allow for the deaths of 28 million people, or risk getting killed by Hagath and Gaila. He chooses to set things up so that all parties involved are involved in a shootout and both Hagath and Gaila are forced to flee.
78	* VillainHasAPoint:
79	** Hagath sends Quark's pay directly to his creditors to pay off his debts, as he doesn't want Quark to act irresponsible with his profits and not pay back his debtors, but he also recognizes the importance of his business partner not having that pressure on him anymore. Given the general behavior of Ferengi and the business Hagath is in, making sure Quark has no obligations to anyone else and keeping control of his money for the time being are good ideas.
80	** Hagath and Gaila have one by proxy when Kira begrudgingly admits that weapons dealers like them made it possible for the Bajorans (and other oppressed groups) to fight back against tyranny.
81	* WarForFunAndProfit:
82	** Played straight with Hagath and Gaila, who enable warmongers to kill millions while they enjoy the luxuries from their profits.
83	** Subverted by Quark, who acts like he's willing to sell to both sides, but he's really setting it up so that the leaders of both sides will "accidentally" run into each other and [[LetsYouAndHimFight start shooting]].
84	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's not mentioned what happens to Talura at the end of the episode.
85	* WorthIt: Implied several times regarding Quark's screwing of the deal at the climax. If Quark died in the execution, it was worth it to stop the slaughter of 28 million people. (As he himself puts it: ''"One life for 28 million. Best deal I ever made."'') He sheds no tears over the Regent's death when it's revealed, and he doesn't even try to wiggle out of being sent the bill for the damage dealt in the firefight, only asking for a payment plan that Sisko agrees to.
86	* YouHaveFailedMe: Hagath is extremely displeased with Farrakk, who was vacationing on Risa instead of conducting a weapons deal. Needless to say, Farrakk meets with an unfortunate "accident" shortly after leaving the station.
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Context Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E18BusinessAsUsual