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February 27, 1995
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45 minutes
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125
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2024-09-12 21:36:12
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SUMMARY
Stardate: Unknown. While a Romulan delegation tries to get information about the Dominion, O'Brien gets visions of unpleasant things that are about to happen in the future.
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TRANSCRIPT
[Ops]
(O'Brien is on the floor of the pit, in pain.)
BASHIR: It's all right, Chief. You're going to be just fine.
O'BRIEN: What happened?
SISKO: You were re-routing a phase inducer when one of the plasma conduits blew out.
BASHIR: Easy there, Chief. You have a mild case of radiation poisoning. I've given you some hyronalin, which should counteract the affects. But I think he should be restricted to light duty for the next few days.
SISKO: Agreed.
KIRA: Commander, the transport's arrived and they're requesting permission to dock.
SISKO: Route them to docking bay twelve. Inform the Romulan delegation we'll meet them there. And Chief? Light duty means light. I don't want to see you crawling around the Jefferies tube tonight looking for power surges.
O'BRIEN: You won't get any arguments today, Commander.
SISKO: Ready, Major?
(Kira and Sisko go to the turbolift.)
SISKO: Promenade.
[Promenade]
(Security dragging a drunk Klingon)
BO'RAK: Du'cha Kovah! Estah!
SISKO: Constable, I wasn't aware there were any Klingons on the station.
ODO: They just arrived a few hours ago. It seems the main computer on their freighter was damaged and they need a complete overhaul before they can continue back to the Klingon Empire.
KIRA: How long is this overhaul going to take?
ODO: Two days, at least.
SISKO: The Romulan delegation has just arrived and they're going to be here for at least two days while they study our intelligence reports on the Dominion. I want you to keep a close eye on the Klingons. We don't need any trouble right now.
ODO: Understood. Let's go. Come on.
[Airlock]
(Starfleet security open the airlock doors and four Romulans enter, one female.)
SISKO: Welcome to Deep Space Nine. I'm Commander Sisko, and this is my first officer, Major Kira.
RUWON: (heavy-set male) I am Ruwon. This is Karina. We're ready for your report on the Dominion.
SISKO: We have arranged quarters for you. I know it's been a long trip, so perhaps you'd like to
RUWON: We are not interested in your accommodations, Commander. We are here for your intelligence briefing. Nothing else.
SISKO: Very well. If you'll come this way.
[Quark's]
(Quark hangs the dart board and Miles paces off the ocky)
O'BRIEN: This'll be the foul line. We need to put a marker here on the floor.
QUARK: I still don't see how this is going to help my business, Chief.
O'BRIEN: No, that's not right. The number twenty needs to be at the top. Trust me, Quark. Darts and bars go together like bacon and eggs.
QUARK: At least people order bacon and eggs. In all the years I've been here, no one has ever come in and asked to see the dart board.
O'BRIEN: Trust me. They will.
QUARK: I just don't see the appeal of this game. No lasers, no holograms, just steel tips and feathers.
O'BRIEN: It's a game of skill, Quark. And it's not easy. Go ahead. Try and get one in the bullseye.
(Quark throws all the darts at once.)
O'BRIEN: No!
(Two of the darts land in Morn's padded jacket.)
QUARK: Now what if one of those darts had gotten into his eye? Do you realise I'd be liable for that? Do you know how much money an eye costs?
O'BRIEN: You're not supposed to throw them like that. You throw them gently, one at a time. Like this.
[Promenade - upper level]
(Mid-throw but he's moved location.)
QUARK [OC]: Chief O'Brien?
O'BRIEN [OC]: What is it, Quark?
(Quark is talking to another O'Brien outside his cafe.)
QUARK: The Klingons just destroyed two of my holosuites. I need a maintenance crew immediately.
O'BRIEN 2: Quark, this happens every time the Klingons come aboard the station. Why don't you just keep them out of the holosuites?
QUARK: Did you ever said no to a Klingon? Besides, they're paying me double.
(Quark goes back inside and O'Brien 2 sees O'Brien 1 across the way.)
[Quark's]
(The dart hits the bullseye and O'Brien collapses)
QUARK: Chief? Chief!
[Infirmary]
BASHIR: Well, the pain you experienced appears to be a muscle spasm caused by a sudden decrease in your serum calcium levels. It's a common side effect of radiation poisoning. I'm giving you some asinolyathin for the pain.
O'BRIEN: What about the vision I had?
BASHIR: Well, mild hallucinations are also a fairly common side-effect of radiation poisoning.
O'BRIEN: It was anything but mild. I really felt I was standing on the Promenade watching myself talking to Quark.
BASHIR: What was the conversation about?
O'BRIEN: He was complaining about some Klingons. He said they'd damaged two of his holosuites.
BASHIR: Well, you do have one problem. If all you can hallucinate about is Quark's maintenance problems, you have a sadly deficient fantasy life.
O'BRIEN: Oh. Well, thank you for your professional opinion.
BASHIR: Any time. My doors are always open to you, Chief.
[Wardroom]
RUWON: The Dominion represents the greatest threats to the Alpha Quadrant in the last century. We need more information on its military capabilities. How many ships do they have? Where are they deployed? What are their plans for the future? Are they planning an attack?
SISKO: We don't know any of that yet.
KARINA: You have one of the Founders of the Dominion on this very station. He should be able to tell us everything we need to know about their intentions.
KIRA: Odo is not one of the Founders.
KARINA: Your own reports indicate that a group of changelings are the real source of power behind the Dominion.
KIRA: Yes.
RUWON: And Odo is a changeling.
KIRA: But he's not one of the Founder.
RUWON: I fail to see the distinction.
KIRA: Odo made a conscious choice to stay here with us. He has no loyalties to the Dominion and he has no information about their plans.
RUWON: We find that hard to believe.
SISKO: It's the truth, whether you choose to believe it or not.
RUWON: Commander, we allowed you to place one of our cloaking devices on the Defiant in exchange for information regarding the Dominion. Now you have the cloaking device and we have very little.
KARINA: We shouldn't have to remind you of the importance both our governments place on continuing to carry out this agreement. It's the first treaty between Romulus and the Federation in many years.
SISKO: I'm aware of that and I'm willing to cooperate with you in any way I can.
RUWON: Very well then. We want to see every piece of information Starfleet has on the Dominion, no matter how insignificant.
KARINA: That includes any classified reports you may have made to Starfleet Command.
SISKO: I'll have to clear that with Starfleet.
RUWON: Then do it.
[Promenade - upper level]
QUARK: Chief O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: What is it, Quark?
QUARK: The Klingons just destroyed two of my holosuites. I need a maintenance crew immediately.
O'BRIEN: Quark, we go through this every time Klingons come aboard the station. Why don't you just
(O'Brien and Quark looks across at the earlier O'Brien.)
QUARK: I think my holosuites can wait. It looks like you have bigger problems.
[Commander's office]
DAX: I went over the internal sensor logs and I did find evidence of a minor temporal disturbance in Quark's and another one later on the Promenade. Both disturbances happened at about the same time as the Chief's experiences.
SISKO: So it would seem that you did travel into the future and then returned to the same moment that you left.
O'BRIEN: Have you any idea what might have caused this time shift?
DAX: Not yet. I want to go over the medical scans Julian took of you earlier. That dose of ionising radiation you received might have something to do with it.
O'BRIEN: How?
DAX: I'm not sure, but it's a good place to start. I have heard of a couple of theories that ambient low level radiation could have a temporal
[Quark's]
(The Klingons and the Romulans and Starfleet are fighting. O'Brien 2 has been beaten up at the bar and a Klingon draws a dagger when our O'Brien intervenes and disarms him.)
O'BRIEN 2: Look out!
(O'Brien dodges a flying chair)
[Commander's office]
DAX: Effect on radioactive isotopes
(O'Brien falls over.)
DAX: Chief!
SISKO: Mister O'Brien?
[Infirmary]
BASHIR: I ran a microcellular scan and detected minute damage to his cerebrospinal nerve cells which might have been caused by the time shifting.
O'BRIEN: Can you repair it?
BASHIR: Yes, but the effect is cumulative. If you keep time shifting, there may come a point where the damage becomes irreparable. Eventually, it might even kill you.
SISKO: Don't worry, Chief. Dax is using every scanner on the station to hunt for any temporal abnormalities.
O'BRIEN: Well, if anyone can find the cause of the time shifts, it's Dax.
SISKO: Chief, do you have any idea of how far into the future you travelled?
O'BRIEN: No, sir. There was nothing to indicate that it was today, tomorrow, next week.
SISKO: Well, this conference with the Romulans is not supposed to last longer than three days. In the meantime I'll have Odo tighten security around Quark's.
(Kira enters.)
KIRA: How are you feeling, Chief?
O'BRIEN: Better.
KIRA: Good. Commander, may I speak with you for a minute?
SISKO: Of course.
[Promenade]
KIRA: The Romulans want to debrief everyone who was on the Defiant when it was captured by the Founders. They're also still not happy with the sensor information collected by the Defiant, so they want unrestricted access to the Defiant. And they also want complete access to all our personal logs.
SISKO: Personal logs are out of the question, but they can have limited access to the Defiant. I'll let them debrief us as well. I know they're pushing us, Major, but consider their position. There have never been any Romulan ships in the Gamma Quadrant, so they've never encountered the Dominion. So they're completely dependent on us for information.
KIRA: Well then maybe they should send their own ships through the wormhole and find out for themselves.
SISKO: The Romulans generally prefer to sit back and pull the strings from a distance if they can.
KIRA: This is one puppet who doesn't like her strings pulled.
SISKO: I know. But like Ruwon said, they've lived up to their part of the bargain. We have to do everything we can to live up to ours.
KIRA: All right. I'll draw up a schedule of interviews and I'll tell everyone to cooperate.
SISKO: And Major, when you're in with the Romulans, try to be diplomatic.
KIRA: I'm always diplomatic.
[Wardroom]
KIRA: That is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard, and I resent the implication!
RUWON: You seem very agitated for someone who's proclaiming her innocence.
KARINA: Indeed, your emotional state would seem to indicate that our theory is correct and you did abandon the Defiant prematurely when it was attacked by the Jem'Hadar.
KIRA: When the Defiant was attacked, Odo and I were trapped below decks. There was a hand-to-hand fight in the corridor. I was wounded and I lost consciousness. When I came to, Odo had already put me aboard the shuttle and we had escaped. I did not abandon the ship prematurely.
RUWON: Why didn't Odo try to help the rest of the Defiant's crew?
KIRA: well I'm sure he wanted to. But there was no way to get to the Bridge and
KARINA: Why were you in Odo's Quarters when the ship was attacked?
KIRA: We were talking.
KARINA: About what?
KIRA: It's personal.
RUWON: Do you often have personal talks with the changeling?
KIRA: What business is that of yours?
RUWON: We're trying to determine the nature of your relationship.
KARINA: You are the only member of the Defiant's crew who was not taken prisoner. Why? Did the Founders believe Odo would react badly if you were harmed? Did they think you held some kind of attraction to him?
RUWON: Has Odo ever shown some kind of physical interest in you, Major?
KIRA: That's it. You rip the cloaking device out of the Defiant right now. I am not answering any more questions. And I suggest you avoid asking Odo those questions or you just might find yourselves on the other side of that bulkhead floating home.
[Quark's]
BASHIR: There. That's the game. Had enough?
O'BRIEN: One more.
BASHIR: Chief, that's the tenth game we've played in a row. Nothing's happening here and I don't think anything is going to happen. By telling us about the fight, you've changed the future. Security's here and Quark said he won't let the Klingons back in the bar. There is not going to be a fight.
O'BRIEN: I know, I know. But I've seen it and I can't shake the feeling that it's going to happen despite our precautions. There's something about the way things look, the number of people. There's something a little too familiar about everything.
BASHIR: All right. If it makes you feel any better, I'll beat you at another ten games. But I can't help getting the feeling
(Three Klingons come out down the stairs.)
BO'RAK: Ach'cho korvak batah!
MORKA: Karagh, abeh!
O'BRIEN: You said you weren't going to let the Klingons back in the bar.
QUARK: I didn't. They were in the holosuites. Besides, now they're paying me triple.
(The Klingons go over to a table where the Romulan security are sitting.)
MORKA: Who let these filthy pahtak in here?
BO'RAK: Maybe someone should show them the way out
[Security office]
KIRA: And then what's his name?
ODO: Ruwon?
KIRA: Ruwon started to insinuate that you were
ODO: That I was what?
KIRA: Interested in me.
ODO: He said that?
KIRA: Have you ever heard anything more
ODO: Ridiculous.
KIRA: Exactly.
QUARK [OC]: Quark to Security! I've got a fight on my hands! They're tearing my place apart!
[Quark's]
(Déjà vu as Quark adds up the costs each time something breaks. But O'Brien doesn't get knocked down before his past self tackles the man with the dagger)
O'BRIEN: Watch the Romulan!
(Past O'Brien ducks as the chair flies and vanishes.)
ODO: That's enough! Get back. Come on. Hold it. Let's go. Come on now.
[Corridor]
(Another O'Brien is opening a wall panel)
O'BRIEN: Miles?
(As the panel is opened O'Brien is shot by a booby trap. He's dead, Miles.)
[Infirmary]
BASHIR: Chief, it's all right. You collapsed outside Quark's about an hour ago. You're going to be fine.
O'BRIEN: No, I'm not. In a few hours I'm going to be dead.
[Corridor]
O'BRIEN: This is the panel I saw myself open. It looked like a phaser or a high-energy laser came out of the bulkhead.
ODO: Nothing on the tricorder. Just the standard conduits and power juncture ports.
SISKO: If there is something dangerous in there, it could be cloaked or have some dampening field around it.
ODO: If you gentlemen will step down the corridor, I'll open the panel and take a look. Don't worry, I'll be careful.
(He does so from the side and waves his tricorder in front of it.)
ODO: It's all right. Nothing.
SISKO: You're sure this is the right panel?
O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Believe me, I have a pretty vivid memory of the whole thing.
SISKO: Well, since it appears that your first two time jumps each moved you to about five hours into the future, we could also assume that the incident you saw in this corridor moved you to about five hours into the future.
ODO: That means someone will place a device in this panel in the next few hours.
SISKO: All of these quarters are vacant at the moment. There are no vital power conduits in this area, no crucial defence systems. Why would someone want to booby-trap a wall panel here?
ODO: I suggest we place a surveillance device in this corridor. If anyone attempts to tamper with the panel, we'll be able to detect it.
DAX [OC]: Dax to Sisko.
SISKO: Sisko here. Go ahead, Lieutenant.
DAX [OC]: Benjamin, can you come to Ops? I think I found a clue to Chief O'Brien's time shifting.
SISKO: We're on our way. Keep me informed.
[Ops]
DAX: I've been scanning the area around the station out to a radius of two kilometres, and I didn't find anything at first. Then I started to scan some of the lower subspace bandwidths. I found traces of low-level tetryon emissions.
O'BRIEN: I've never seen an emission pattern like that outside of a neutron star.
DAX: Or a quantum singularity. And singularities are known to send out waves of temporal displacement.
O'BRIEN: But if there is a singularity nearby why can't we find it? It should also be affecting the gravimetric field signatures.
DAX: I don't know. Maybe it's buried so far down in the subspace layers that we can't detect it.
SISKO: Assuming for the moment that a singularity is responsible, how do we combat its effects on the Chief?
BASHIR: The temporal displacement caused by a quantum singularity most commonly affects delta series radioisotopes, which is exactly what the Chief absorbed during the conduit breach.
SISKO: So you're saying that it could be pulling O'Brien's body like a magnet?
BASHIR: Exactly. I think I may know a way to neutralise the remaining radioisotopes in your body.
DAX: Without the radiation, the temporal displacement might stop.
BASHIR: It's going to take time. He may experience one or two more time shifts before I can complete the process.
O'BRIEN: When can we start?
BASHIR: Right away.
(O'Brien and Bashir leave.)
SISKO: Keep trying to pinpoint the singularity. If it is out there, we need to locate it and find a way to get rid of it.
DAX: Right.
KIRA: I wanted to let you know I moved the Romulans to different quarters.
SISKO: Oh?
KIRA: It's the replicators again. I assigned a maintenance crew, but in the meantime I moved the entire Romulan delegation to section forty seven, level two in the Habitat ring.
SISKO: Section forty seven?
KIRA: Yes. Is something wrong?
SISKO: The wall panel where O'Brien saw himself being killed is right outside those quarters. Which means either the Romulans are going to put a device in the bulkhead themselves or someone else will, possibly to be used against the Romulans.
KIRA: Should I move them to other quarters?
SISKO: No. That'll warn whoever's responsible. But inform Odo of the change in quarters. He already has that corridor under surveillance. Let's see how this thing plays out before we make any further moves.
[Security office]
SISKO: You have something, Constable?
ODO: Someone has planted a class three surveillance device behind the wall panel we've been monitoring.
SISKO: Were you able to see who it was?
ODO: No. We've been monitoring the corridor constantly for the past three hours. No one's come anywhere near the panel. However, sensors did detect a low energy transporter beam a short time ago. They beamed the device directly into the wall.
SISKO: That's a delicate piece of transporter work.
ODO: Yes, it is. We haven't been able to trace the beam to its point of origin, but since there aren't any ships nearby, I believe it originated on the station.
SISKO: Any suspects?
ODO: Since it appears to be a device intended to conduct covert surveillance of the Romulans, my leading suspects would be the Klingons.
SISKO: Do you have any evidence besides the fact that Klingons hate Romulans?
ODO: Not yet. But don't worry, I plan on investigating the Klingons, the Bajorans, Quark, the visiting Terrelians.
SISKO: You think Quark had something to do with this?
ODO: I always investigate Quark.
[Quark's cafe]
BASHIR: It looks like you're going to cheat death after all. Round about this time you saw yourself being killed.
O'BRIEN: I feel like someone just walked over my grave. I mean, I've had a few brushes with death in my career, but there was something about watching myself being killed, feeling my own neck for a pulse that wasn't there.
BASHIR: Well, it could've been worse. It could've been me.
QUARK: (bringing drinks) Here you are, gentlemen. And how is DS Nine's most famous fortune teller?
O'BRIEN: Don't call me that. I haven't told anyone's fortune.
QUARK: Just a figure of speech. On the other hand, if you should find yourself in the future again and you find yourself passing by the dabo table, would it really hurt to take a look at the numbers coming up on the wheel? I could make it worth your while.
O'BRIEN: Let's get out of here.
QUARK: Just a thought.
O'BRIEN: Can you believe that? I'm being pulled into the future and all he can think about is
[Infirmary]
(There's no one around except a shrouded body on a bed. O'Brien draws back the sheet to look at himself.)
BASHIR: Chief! Oh, am I glad to see you.
O'BRIEN: What the hell happened to me, Julian?
BASHIR: It was the radiation. I didn't realise it had damaged the basilar arteries in your brain stem until it was too late.
O'BRIEN: Well why not?
BASHIR: It didn't show up on any of the diagnostics. I couldn't tell what had happened until I was doing the autopsy.
O'BRIEN: Autopsy?
BASHIR: Yes. I just finished doing it a few moments ago. Do you want me to show you the results?
O'BRIEN: No, no, that's all right.
BASHIR: Now look. When you go back to the past, ask me to perform a basilar arterial scan. Now since you're going five hours back into the past, I should have enough time to find the damage and repair it before this happens.
O'BRIEN: Right. How could you just let me die?
BASHIR: I didn't just let you die. I did everything I could to keep you alive for over an hour, but your body just gave up.
O'BRIEN: Gave up?
BASHIR: I'm sorry, Chief, but there comes a point when the human body just gives up.
O'BRIEN: Yeah? Well, maybe my doctor wasn't
[Promenade upper level]
(O'Brien keels over.)
BASHIR: Bashir to Infirmary. I need a nurse and an emergency medkit here immediately.
[Guest quarters]
ODO: We finally were able to localise the transporter beam and trace it back to this location.
SISKO: These quarters have been vacant for weeks.
ODO: Somehow, they overrode the security lock on the door to gain access.
SISKO: So what did they do? Bring in a portable transporter and beam the surveillance equipment into the bulkhead?
ODO: That was my first thought. But then I realised that a portable transporter is a rather large and bulky piece of equipment to be carrying around the halls.
SISKO: That's true.
ODO: So, then I began thinking about the replicator.
SISKO: Ah. They realigned the matter-energy conversion matrix.
ODO: Turning it into a small transporter. A very sophisticated, very professional job.
SISKO: So now we know how they did it, the next question is who?
ODO: I think I have an answer to that as well. This device is manufactured on Davlos Three, a planet on the Klingon border. In fact, Davlos does over ninety percent of its trade with the Klingon Empire.
SISKO: That's still very little evidence to make an arrest.
ODO: Yes, it is. But then I contacted a friend at Starfleet Intelligence who used to be assigned to the Federation Embassy on the Klingon Homeworld. He put me in contact with a former Klingon operative who's out of favour with the current administration. This former operative sent me a series of reports
SISKO: Odo, cut to the chase.
ODO: The three Klingons now on the station are part of a covert strike force that reports directly to the Klingon High Council.
SISKO: Why didn't you just say so?
ODO: Sometimes I have to remind you just how good I am.
SISKO: So Gowron sent our three friends here and they're conducting surveillance on the Romulan delegation. Why? Are they here to kill them?
ODO: Possibly. It's also possible that this is just a routine intelligence-gathering operation. The high-energy laser that killed O'Brien is simply a booby trap to prevent someone from tampering with the device. It's not meant for assassination.
SISKO: Well in either case I think we have enough evidence to at least hold the Klingons for questioning, don't you?
ODO: Absolutely. And I think I can question them until the Romulan delegation leaves the station.
SISKO: Just be careful.
ODO: Commander, there is no careful way to question a Klingon.
[Infirmary]
O'BRIEN: I, I haven't given up. I won't give up.
BASHIR: It's all right, Chief. You're okay.
O'BRIEN: No, I'm not. You need to run a basilar arterial scan.
BASHIR: Why?
O'BRIEN: Because if you don't, I'm going to die in less than five hours.
BASHIR: Who told you that?
O'BRIEN: You did. In the future.
BASHIR: Oh. Well, who am I to argue with me?
[Holding cell]
(The third Klingon is thrown into a cell with the other two.)
ATUL: Let me go!
MORKA: This is an outrage! We've done nothing!
BO'RAK: We will have our vengeance on all of you for this!
MORKA: We are being treated with dishonour. We have done nothing wrong.
ODO: We take a very dim view of spies and saboteurs on this station.
MORKA: Now you slander us. When my family finds out what you have done, they will come here and kill you!
ODO: I doubt that very much. The only people who will be coming here are your friends in Klingon Intelligence. And from what I understand, they don't like being embarrassed by operatives who fail in their missions. However, should you suddenly feel like cooperating, I may be persuaded to let you go without contacting your friends in Intelligence. Maybe.
[Ops]
SISKO: So, how are you feeling, Chief?
O'BRIEN: Better, sir.
BASHIR: I've eliminated almost all the radioisotopes from his body. I have to wait a couple more hours before I give him the last treatment but after that there should be no more time shifting.
SISKO: What about the quantum singularity?
DAX: We've been able to track it by using its tetryon emissions as a guide. It seems to be orbiting Deep Space Nine in a roughly elliptical fashion.
O'BRIEN: At certain points in its orbit, the singularity radiates temporal energy at a specific wavelength. That seems to be what triggers my time shifts.
SISKO: Is there any way to break it out of its orbit and send it on its way?
O'BRIEN: Well, we were hoping to station
[Runabout]
(A lot of people are crowding into the vessel along with our O'Brien.)
O'BRIEN 2: Come on, come on! Hurry up! We don't have much time! Prepare to seal the hatch and release the docking clamps. Initiating emergency escape protocol. Hang on. I'm going to full impulse.
(DS9 has lots of explosions happening.)
O'BRIEN: Now what?
O'BRIEN 2: You're here! Look, I don't know what happened. I was asleep in bed, and the whole station was rocked by an explosion. Before I could get to Ops, the evacuation alarm sounded and the comm. systems were down. I got as many people as I could in here. I don't know what happened to the others. When you go back, you have to find out what happened and stop it.
(DS9 goes KaBOOM! The wormhole WHOOSHes and implodes in white light.) O'BRIEN: Oh, my God.
[Ops]
SISKO: Chief? What's wrong?
O'BRIEN: We've got a new problem, sir.
(after the adverts)
SISKO: Did you see anything from the runabout that would indicate how the station was destroyed?
O'BRIEN: There were a series of explosions that rippled across the Habitat ring, but it all happened so fast I couldn't get a clear sense of exactly what was going on.
KIRA: Could you tell if you were looking at internal explosions, which might indicate some kind of sabotage or accident, or external explosions which might indicate we were under attack?
O'BRIEN: No. No, I'm not sure.
DAX: Do you remember seeing any other ships nearby?
O'BRIEN: No, but I had a very limited view of the area.
KIRA: At this point we can't rule anything out.
SISKO: Agreed. Make preparations to evacuate the station, but do it quietly. If the destruction of the station is the result of an attack or sabotage, we don't want to alarm our enemy and make him trigger events we're trying to avoid. Begin a complete systems check of everything on the station that could potentially cause this kind of explosion.
DAX: Right.
O'BRIEN: Commander, there might be another way to find out what's going on. If I could travel into the future again, this time just before the destruction of DS Nine, I might be able to find out what's going to happen and then return to the present in time for us to prevent it from happening. If you could flood my body with high concentrations of delta series radioisotopes, it might trigger a time shift into the future.
BASHIR: Possibly, but those isotopes are toxic. It could cause permanent damage to your nervous system. It might even kill you.
O'BRIEN: Oh. Well, if the future happens the way I saw it happen, a lot of people are going to get killed when the station explodes. It's a risk I'm willing to take.
SISKO: Even if you're able to initiate a time jump, each time you travelled into the future, you've always gone five hours. How do you propose to shorten the length of the jump?
O'BRIEN: There might be a link between the temporal frequency of the singularity and the length of the time shift.
BASHIR: We might be able to calibrate the decay constant of the isotope that we inject you with to match the frequency of the singularity. And with a few minor adjustments we can control how far you jump into the future.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
SISKO: All right. But if you can't do it within two hours, I'm going to begin to evacuate the station.
O'BRIEN: Understood.
[Infirmary]
(Bashir puts a device on O'Brien's arm.)
BASHIR: Now, when you activate this device it'll inject you with a two rad dose of delta isotopes. Now, if our calculations are right, that should put you about three hours into the future.
O'BRIEN: What's the margin of error?
BASHIR: Plus or minus a half hour I'd say, but that's the best we could do. Now, it's already set for the return trip, so all you have to do is activate it again to return to the present.
O'BRIEN: Right.
BASHIR: And remember, don't wait too long. Your body will be experiencing symptoms of severe radiation poisoning. If you don't get treatment it will kill you.
O'BRIEN: I won't forget.
BASHIR: Good.
O'BRIEN: Julian, there's a message in my quarters for Keiko if
BASHIR: I understand, Miles.
[O'Brien's bedroom]
(O'Brien sits up and looks at the clock.)
O'BRIEN: Zero two hundred. That's three and half hours into the future. Miles. Miles, wake up!
O'BRIEN 2: What? Computer, lights. Oh no, not you again. What is it now?
O'BRIEN: Listen to me. I've jumped ahead and seen your future. Don't ask me how, it'll take too long to explain. There's going to be a disaster. DS Nine will be destroyed.
O'BRIEN 2: Destroyed? How?
O'BRIEN: I don't know. That's why I'm here. I have to find out what's going to happen and then travel back into the past and prevent it.
O'BRIEN 2: You look pretty bad.
O'BRIEN: It's the radiation.
O'BRIEN 2: But if you feel bad and you're my past self, shouldn't I feel bad too?
(Shouldn't you also know that he was going to be here and what he saw earlier/later?)
BOTH: I hate temporal mechanics.
O'BRIEN: Let's get down to Ops and see what's going on. Help me up.
[Ops]
O'BRIEN: Run a sensor sweep of the entire station. Look for anything that might indicate a
(BOOM)
KIRA: Report!
DAX: A Romulan warbird just decloaked off of lower pylon two. They've taken out our shield generators.
KIRA: On screen. Lock phasers and return fire.
O'BRIEN 2: They've hit the fusion reactor. Main power's down. Defence systems are offline.
(Our O'Brien collapses in agony.)
KIRA: Try to re-route phasers through the emergency power couplings.
O'BRIEN 2: Miles, you've got your answer. The quantum singularity that's been orbiting the station. It's the Romulans. Are you listening? The Romulans use a confined singularity to power their warp core. That's what we've been detecting. That's what's causing the time shifts. You must go back and tell them to put up the shields and stand by for an attack.
O'BRIEN: I can't. I can't get through another shift. It's the radiation poisoning.
(He gives the armband to his future self)
O'BRIEN: You go. Just activate it. It's set for the return trip.
O'BRIEN 2: Me? I don't belong there.
O'BRIEN: I'm you, you're me, it doesn't matter. Just go. Go!
[Infirmary]
BASHIR: Chief, what happened?
O'BRIEN 2: It worked. O'Brien to Sisko.
[Ops]
SISKO: Go ahead, Chief.
O'BRIEN 2: I've been to the future, Commander. The quantum singularity off the station is actually in the warp core of a cloaked
[Ops]
O'BRIEN 2 [OC]: Romulan warbird. They're going to decloak and fire on us in a matter of hours.
SISKO: Understood, Chief. Raise shields. Stand by weapons systems.
[Infirmary]
BASHIR: I don't understand it. Your body should be flooded with delta series radiation but there's only a tiny amount in your tissues. Your metabolic readings are different. What happened?
O'BRIEN 2: There's been a change.
[Wardroom]
QUARK: I really have nothing else to say.
RUWON: I think you're lying, Quark.
QUARK: About what part?
RUWON: All of it.
QUARK: Well, at least I'm consistent.
(Sisko, Kira, Odo and Security enter)
SISKO: Quark, you can leave.
QUARK: Thank you.
(Quark leaves.)
SISKO: I know you have a cloaked warbird orbiting the station, and I know you're planning an attack. At first, I couldn't understand why, and then I remembered what you said about the Dominion. How they were the greatest threat to the Alpha Quadrant in the last century. If you really believed that, then the only way you could ever be truly safe from the Dominion would be to collapse the wormhole.
KIRA: But you knew we wouldn't just sit by and watch while you did it, so you had to destroy the station too. That way, there'd be no witnesses.
ODO: Everyone would assume that Deep Space Nine was destroyed by what appeared to be the accidental collapse of the wormhole.
KARINA: An interesting theory, Commander. But that's all it is. A theory.
SISKO: That's right. But I'll tell you what's not a theory. We tracked the tetryon emissions back to your warbird and I have about fifty photon torpedoes locked on to it right now.
RUWON: I think it's time we left.
SISKO: I couldn't agree more. Constable, will you please escort our guests to the nearest transporter room.
ODO: If you'll come with me.
[Quark's]
BASHIR: So you're telling me that you remember playing this game with me in the future?
O'BRIEN: Right.
BASHIR: All right, what am I going to hit?
O'BRIEN: Twenty, outer ring.
(You mean double top, Miles. Bashir closes his eyes and throws.)
BASHIR: But that's remarkable.
O'BRIEN: It's also a little disturbing. I have this nagging feeling that I don't really belong here. This isn't really my life. Maybe this life belongs to that other Miles O'Brien.
BASHIR: Listen, Chief, whether you're living in the past or in the present, you are Miles O'Brien. The only difference is, you have a few memories the other one didn't have.
O'BRIEN: Well, I think I'll go to bed. I'm still kind of tired.
BASHIR: Now that sounds like a good idea.
(O'Brien goes to the bar.)
O'BRIEN: Quark. Dabo.
QUARK: Dabo?
CROWD [OC]: Dabo!
QUARK: Wait! Chief, wait!
2024-09-12 21:36:12 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
