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March 4, 1998
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45 minutes
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144
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2024-09-13 19:23:22
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SUMMARY
Stardate: 51597.2. Worf and Jadzia travel to the badlands to procure some information on the Dominion from a traitorous Cardassian. Bashir wants to engage in a holo-suite spy simulation, but O'Brien prefers to brush up on his tongo game after watching Jadzia lose to Quark.
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TRANSCRIPT
[Quark's]
(After hours tongo with Quark and his staff.)
DAX: Sell at twenty.
QUARK: Is that a joke?
DAX: Do I look like I'm joking?
QUARK: Evade.
DAX: Exchange at fifteen.
[Quark's cafe]
(Up on the first level, there are spectators.)
WORF: She has him.
O'BRIEN: She's down fifty strips.
WORF: Not for long.
O'BRIEN: What makes you so sure?
WORF: Jadzia is playing a very deep game. Her strategy will become apparent any moment now.
O'BRIEN: I see. You have absolutely no idea how this game is played, do you?
WORF: No. But I have developed a new appreciation for it.
O'BRIEN: Since when?
WORF: Since I married a tongo player. But one thing I am certain about, she will defeat the Ferengi bartender.
O'BRIEN: I don't know about that. Quark's on a roll. In the last month, he's won two hundred and six straight games.
WORF: Would you care to make a wager on the outcome?
O'BRIEN: I wouldn't want to bet against a man's wife.
WORF: If you are afraid, I
O'BRIEN: Name your stakes.
WORF: One bottle of bloodwine against one bottle of scotch whiskey.
O'BRIEN: Done.
DAX: A sale at fifty and a purchase at one hundred.
[Quark's]
QUARK: Pretty big talk for a woman who's lost fifty strips.
DAX: Are you afraid I can't cover my bets?
QUARK: Perish the thought. I just hate to kick somebody when they're down. I'll buy at a hundred and confront.
DAX: Well, if you're going to kick me, I'm going to have to kick back.
(Dax lays down her cards.)
QUARK: Unbelievable!
[Quark's cafe]
WORF: Eshta, par'machkai. I like my bloodwine very young and very sweet.
[Quark's]
QUARK: Is he a friend of yours?
DAX: Just a fan.
QUARK: I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint all your fans.
(Quark puts down his cards.)
DAX: A full consortium?
O'BRIEN: Two hundred and seven. A single malt, preferably something from the Highlands.
WORF: I will need some time.
O'BRIEN: Oh, your credit's good. Two hundred and seven straight.
[Quark's]
(Worf comes down the stairs.)
QUARK: Thirty six strips of gold pressed latinum.
DAX: Did you just lose a bet?
WORF: It is of no consequence.
DAX: I'm sorry about that.
WORF: I would rather lose a bet on you than win on someone else.
DAX: Ooo, good response.
[Worf + Dax's bedroom]
DAX: Are you still running that drill tomorrow afternoon?
WORF: I was planning to. Why?
DAX: Because I wanted to recalibrate the external sensors before the nightwatch comes on duty.
WORF: We should be done by sixteen hundred.
DAX: I think that'll work. Oh, the Sutherland is going to be here the day after tomorrow and
(Worf is praying in front of a shrine. But I thought the Klingons had killed their gods?)
WORF: What were you saying?
DAX: Nothing.
(Dax throws her nightdress over him and she is now in bed.)
DAX: I don't feel like talking anymore.
(Later)
KIRA [OC]: Kira to Worf.
WORF: Worf here.
KIRA [OC]: Sorry to bother you, Commander, but I need to see you and Jadzia in the Captain's office immediately.
WORF: We're on our way.
(Jadzia rolls over.)
WORF: Jadzia, get up.
DAX: I'm coming.
(Worf pulls off the bedclothes to show us the spots down her legs.)
DAX: Hey!
[Captain's office]
KIRA: We don't have a lot of time, so I'll get right to it. For the last two months, Starfleet has been receiving military intelligence from a Cardassian operative. That operative has now sent an emergency signal indicating he needs to speak to someone in a face to face conversation. In thirteen hours, he'll beam an encrypted subspace transmission to these coordinates in the Badlands.
DAX: Who is the operative?
KIRA: Intelligence told me that his name is Lasaran, but that's all they'd say about him. They did emphasise several times that he's very important to them and we should send someone to the Badlands as soon as possible. So, with the Defiant gone and most of the runabouts off on exercises with the Ninth Fleet
DAX: We just volunteered to take a trip to the Badlands.
KIRA: Afraid so. The Shenandoah is prepped and ready to go on landing pad A. Good luck.
[Runabout Shenandoah]
(Worf hands Dax a PADD.)
DAX: No.
WORF: No?
DAX: No. I'm not going to spend two weeks hiking across Vulcan's Forge in the middle of their summer.
WORF: I thought you always wanted to see the Forge.
DAX: See it, yes. Honeymoon there, no.
WORF: Well, there's a mountain climbing expedition on Andor that caught my attention.
DAX: Worf, my love. Let me make this very clear. I do not want to spend my honeymoon climbing, hiking, sweating, bleeding or suffering in any way.
WORF: All right, what do you want?
DAX: Room service.
WORF: Room service?
DAX: Room service. I want to be pampered. I want a staff to cater to our every whim. I want to be embarrassed by the size of our room. I want a balcony with a view that would make you want to break down and cry from the sheer beauty of it all. And I don't want to spend one moment of our honeymoon suffering from anything except guilt about our complete self-indulgence.
WORF: Risa.
DAX: Not this time. Welcome to Casperia Prime. The vacation capital of the Horvian Cluster.
(The PADD says Starfleet Bureau of Information. It should be the Hitchhiker's Guide, methinks.)
WORF: You have been planning this all along.
DAX: Seemed fair. You did plan the wedding.
WORF: Very well. Room service.
DAX: Really?
WORF: Really.
DAX: Well that was easy.
WORF: Did you want to fight over it?
DAX: No. It's just I didn't expect you to surrender so quickly.
WORF: Surrender?
DAX: Bad word.
WORF: Very bad.
DAX: Okay. But you have to admit you've been unusually accommodating lately.
WORF: What is wrong with that?
DAX: Nothing. It's just unusual. Are you feeling all right?
WORF: I'm a married man. I have to make certain adjustments to my lifestyle.
DAX: Adjustments? Worf, you're practically easygoing. What's next, a sense of humour?
WORF: I have a sense of humour. On the Enterprise, I was considered to be quite amusing.
DAX: That must've been one dull ship.
WORF: That is a joke. I get it. It is not funny, but I get it.
DAX: I don't know if I can get used to the new you. It's kind of eerie.
WORF: Your problem is you cannot accept change.
DAX: I can't accept change?
WORF: That is correct.
DAX: Oh, you've got to be kidding. I've changed bodies six times, Worf.
WORF: Yes, but you are still very set in your ways.
DAX: And look who's talking.
WORF: Well, I do not have to sleep on the same side of the bed every night, or brush my hair exactly fifty strokes every night, or eat the same thing for breakfast every day, or read the last page of a book before the beginning, or lift up the
DAX: I get the point. I don't know how you can live with someone so monotonous.
WORF: It is not easy. That was a joke.
DAX: This is going to be a very, very long trip.
[O'Brien's quarters]
O'BRIEN: Come in.
BASHIR: (in tuxedo) You're not dressed.
O'BRIEN: Is it time?
BASHIR: Seventeen hundred on the dot. We have a holosuite for the next three hours and we're going to need every minute of it. Three British agents have disappeared in West Berlin. Now, MI5 suspect the Soviets were involved, of course, however Americans have intercepted a. Er, what are you doing with a tongo wheel?
O'BRIEN: I'm brushing up on my game.
BASHIR: You play tongo?
O'BRIEN: Sure. Well, I used to. That is, I played a game once, a long time ago with a Ferengi privateer and a Romulan mercenary.
BASHIR: Fascinating. Anyway, the Americans have intercepted a series of messages from Istanbul to a remote island in the South Pacific which might indicate that
O'BRIEN: Let's play a hand.
BASHIR: Miles.
O'BRIEN: Just one hand.
BASHIR: Why?
O'BRIEN: I need the practice. I want to beat Quark.
BASHIR: Good luck.
O'BRIEN: Luck has nothing to do with it. Tongo is a game of strategy and calculated risk.
BASHIR: I don't even know the rules.
O'BRIEN: Here.
(O'Brien hands over his PADD.)
BASHIR: All right, let's play.
O'BRIEN: I'll deal.
WORF [OC]: Shenandoah log, stardate 51597.2. We have arrived at the designated coordinates near the Badlands and are awaiting the transmission from Lasaran.
[Runabout Shenandoah]
(Static on the monitor.)
DAX: This is it.
WORF: A very sophisticated encryption matrix.
DAX: Whoever he is, he's good.
(A Cardassian comes on the monitor)
LASARAN [on monitor]: Who are you?
WORF: I am Commander Worf, this is Commander Dax. Starfleet Intelligence has sent us here to receive your transmission.
LASARAN [on monitor]: A Klingon. Why did they have to send a Klingon?
DAX: I'm a Trill. Does that make you feel any better?
LASARAN [on monitor]: Are you trying to be funny?
DAX: Not at all. He's the funny one.
WORF: What is it you want?
LASARAN [on monitor]: We'll get to that in a moment. First, I have something that you want badly. Information about the Founders. I know how many of them there are in the Alpha Quadrant, where they are and what they're doing.
DAX: We're listening.
LASARAN [on monitor]: I'm sure you are. Now let's talk about what I want. I want out. Now.
DAX: You want to defect.
LASARAN: The Vorta advisor here is getting suspicious, asking questions, making a lot of routine security checks in my section. I can't stay here any longer.
WORF: Very well. We will relay your message to Starfleet Intelligence and they will arrange to bring you out.
LASARAN [on monitor]: I can't wait for them to make arrangements. In fifteen minutes I am leaving here for the Dominion base on Soukara, and I have a feeling this is going to be the last time that they let me leave Cardassia Prime, so I need to take advantage of this opportunity.
WORF: Soukara is inside Dominion controlled space. It will not be easy to make a rendezvous near that planet without being detected.
LASARAN [on monitor]: Don't work your brain too hard, Klingon, I've taken care of everything. Three days from now, at exactly seventeen thirty hours local time, I will leave the base and walk into the jungle. It'll be at least two days before they know I'm missing. All you have to do is get me off the planet. Now, there are transporter scramblers protecting Soukara, so you can't beam me aboard your ship. You're going to have to land and meet me at a rendezvous point on foot. I'm sending you all the information you'll need to avoid the Dominion sensors on the ground. Follow my instructions, meet me at the rendezvous point and have a ship waiting.
DAX: We've got the information. It looks pretty thorough.
WORF: We will need time to study these plans.
LASARAN [on monitor]: You haven't been listening. I don't have time. Once I leave here, I can't contact you again. I have to know if you're going to be there or not, and I have to know now.
WORF: We will be there.
LASARAN [on monitor]: How far I've fallen, risking my life on the word of a Klingon. Three days. Don't be late.
[O'Brien's quarters]
O'BRIEN: All right. I'll buy at thirty with sales at thirty five.
BASHIR: Buy at thirty five, sell at one fifty, and index the margin at ten percent.
O'BRIEN: Index the margin?
BASHIR: Miles, give it up. This just isn't your game.
O'BRIEN: We'll see about that. Evade. Do you realise that Quark has won two hundred and seven straight games of tongo?
BASHIR: So?
O'BRIEN: So someone has to beat him.
BASHIR: And that someone is you?
O'BRIEN: Why not?
BASHIR: Well, for one thing, you can't play tongo. Confront.
O'BRIEN: Oh damn.
BASHIR: Had enough?
O'BRIEN: Not by a long shot.
BASHIR: Miles, at this rate it's going to take you another twenty years to be ready to take on Quark.
O'BRIEN: One more.
BASHIR: Why are you so determined to beat him?
O'BRIEN: It's the challenge.
BASHIR: The challenge?
O'BRIEN: Isn't it enough? Why do you think I became an engineer? The challenge. What do you think has kept me kayaking down the same river week after week for the last seven years? The challenge. Why would I keep playing darts against someone with a genetically engineered hand-eye coordination?
BASHIR: The challenge.
O'BRIEN: Exactly. I have to do something to keep my mind off the fact that Keiko's been away for six months. Hold on. Maybe I can't beat Quark, but you can. You and that genetically engineered brain of yours.
BASHIR: Me? I've only just learned to play the game.
O'BRIEN: Yeah, in about ten seconds flat. We can do it, Julian. We can beat him.
BASHIR: We? You're talking about me.
O'BRIEN: Yeah, well, you're good at calculation, but a little weak on strategy. I'll be your coach.
BASHIR: No, thank you.
O'BRIEN: Think of it as a challenge.
BASHIR: That's your obsession, Miles, not mine.
O'BRIEN: Do it for the latinum.
BASHIR: Nice try.
O'BRIEN: Do it for the satisfaction of the look on Quark's face when he's beaten at a game of tongo to a lowly human.
BASHIR: Deal the cards.
[Runabout Shenandoah]
WORF: We are approaching the Soukara system.
DAX: Stand by to bring us out of warp. Now.
WORF: There is an asteroid field directly ahead.
DAX: That's what we want. The Dominion sensor grid in this system has three gaps and they're all in that asteroid field.
(They dodge through the flying rocks.)
DAX: Want me to slow down?
WORF: No. Unless you think you should?
DAX: Not at all. In fact I could go faster.
WORF: By all means.
DAX: Ooo. A man after my own heart.
(They exit the belt.)
WORF: Most impressive.
DAX: Nothing that any three hundred year old pilot couldn't do.
WORF: We are being scanned from the surface.
DAX: Taking evasive manoeuvres Did they get a fix on us?
WORF: I do not think so.
DAX: Good. We've come too long a way just to get shot down. If you take the helm, I'll scan the surface for a landing site.
(On the monitor)
DAX: There's the base, the rendezvous point, and the Dominion sensor perimeter. There's a valley about twenty kilometres north of the rendezvous point. It's a long way to go on foot in the jungle, but I don't think we can risk taking the ship any closer to their sensors.
WORF: Agreed.
(They land by the light of a moon.)
WORF: We have less than two days to reach the rendezvous point
DAX: About ten kilometres a day. That shouldn't be too bad.
WORF: Do not underestimate the task ahead. We still have to penetrate the sensor grid and avoid the Dominion patrols.
DAX: I know. Find a man in the middle of an alien jungle, and then walk him out without getting caught. Piece of cake.
WORF: Ready?
DAX: After you.
[Jungle]
(Daylight. They are lying on the ground. Worf is using a tool on a device and Dax is using a tricorder.)
DAX: Okay, go to twenty five joules.
(An iguana walks across her arms.)
WORF: Twenty five joules. Done.
DAX: That's it, we're linked. Here, check my work.
(Dax strips down to her vest.)
WORF: Dominion encryption lockouts are bypassed, tricorder linked to their sensor grid, lifesigns masked. Nicely done.
DAX: Thank you.
WORF: Of course, our tricorders will be useless from now on.
DAX: There you go again, looking for the cloud in the silver lining.
WORF: I am not complaining. I look forward to walking through the jungle without a map and no idea of what lies ahead.
DAX: Well the funny thing is, you probably are.
[Quark's]
QUARK: This is a Ferengi only game, gentlemen.
O'BRIEN: You let Dax play.
QUARK: She's an exception. The only exception.
BASHIR: You're afraid I'll clean you out.
QUARK: I'm afraid you'll embarrass yourself and ruin the game for the rest of us.
BASHIR: I think I can keep up. The question is, can you keep up with me?
QUARK: Don't try and scare me with that genetically engineered intellect of yours, Doctor. Tongo is more than just number crunching. They have yet to create the computer that can master this game.
BASHIR: Then you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
QUARK: You realise we're not playing for drinks. This is a high stakes game.
O'BRIEN: (holds up a case) We came to play.
QUARK: Gentlemen? All right. The buy in is five strips, and you're dealing.
(There are only six strips in the case.)
O'BRIEN: You better get off to a fast start.
BASHIR: They won't know what hit them.
(Time passes, and it's down to three players.)
BASHIR: Buy at three hundred, sell at three fifty.
(The last Ferengi waiter quits.)
QUARK: You're a quick study, Doctor, I'll give you that.
BASHIR: You mean quick for a human, don't you, Quark?
QUARK: I would never say something so distasteful during a game.
BASHIR: You'd wait until it was over.
QUARK: Of course. Evade. Dax was a quick study too. She told me it only took her two weeks to win her first match. That's practically unheard of.
BASHIR: Dax specialises in the unexpected. Still buying at three hundred, selling at four hundred. I'd like to index the margin at twenty percent.
QUARK: Interesting. She certainly did the unexpected when she married Commander Boring.
BASHIR: That's for sure.
QUARK: When they first started seeing each other, I thought this can't last. I give it two months. I'll buy at four hundred and sell at five.
BASHIR: I had the same thought, although to tell you the truth, I only gave it a month. Confront.
QUARK: She's a real heartbreaker, that one.
BASHIR: That she is.
QUARK: Leverage the buy in and sell at five fifty. You know, you go through a lot of ups and downs in my business. There are days when the profits are down and the customers are scarce and you think you'll never see another strip of latinum again. And then Jadzia comes in and flashes that smile of hers. Suddenly things don't seem so bad after all.
BASHIR: I know exactly what you mean exactly. You know, sometimes she walks past the Infirmary and all she has to do is wink and somehow that makes my whole day look a little brighter.
O'BRIEN: Focus, Julian, focus.
QUARK: Shh.
BASHIR: I'll buy that five fifty and index the exchange at ten.
QUARK: And now she's married.
BASHIR: Married.
QUARK: Out of reach. I'm converting my reserves and selling at six hundred. You know what's really sad, what really keeps me awake at night? She's out of reach because we let her go.
BASHIR: I suppose so. But some things just weren't meant to be. Evade.
O'BRIEN: Julian, are you sure you want to
QUARK: Chief, please. You know the rules. No coaching during a round. You're probably right. But what if that's a convenient rationalisation? What if deep down in our heart of hearts we both know she's something unique, something we may never see again. A chance at true happiness and we let her slip through our fingers. What if fifty years from now we each look back and say, what a fool I was. Confront. Doctor?
BASHIR: Hmm?
QUARK: Confront.
BASHIR: Oh. Sorry. Full consortium.
QUARK: Total monopoly.
BASHIR: What?
QUARK: You seem to be out of money.
BASHIR: Miles?
O'BRIEN: We're busted.
QUARK: Thanks for the game. Welcome back anytime.
BASHIR: Wait. Quark, did you really mean all that? About Dax being my one last chance for true happiness?
QUARK: Doctor, you don't expect me to show you all my cards, do you?
(Quark goes off with his winnings.)
O'BRIEN: You lost.
BASHIR: Whatever happened to we?
O'BRIEN: We weren't mooning over lost love with a Ferengi holding a total monopoly.
BASHIR: You mean all that about Dax was meant to distract me?
O'BRIEN: Obviously.
BASHIR: I can't believe I let him get to me.
O'BRIEN: Not your fault. Genetically engineered or not, you're still human.
BASHIR: I guess.
O'BRIEN: Let's go get a drink.
[Jungle]
(Worf and Dax walk through the plants to the accompaniment of animal sounds. The sun climbs high in the sky. Dax uses a PADD compass. Worf uses his mek'leth as a machete. Worf treats an injury on Dax's leg. Evening falls and the frogs call. They make camp with birdsong in the trees. Full night, and Dax puts a foil blanket around Worf's shoulders.)
DAX: Let's not stand on pride, shall we? Trills don't like the heat, and Klingons don't like the cold. There's no shame in admitting it.
WORF: Thank you.
DAX: You're welcome. So, how are you enjoying your honeymoon? Are you suffering enough?
WORF: Almost.
DAX: Is there anything I can get for you?
WORF: More pain, less cold.
DAX: I don't know why that's funny, but it is.
(Howl)
DAX: Mating call?
WORF: Five hundred metres that way.
(Another howl.)
DAX: That didn't take long.
WORF: Less than three hundred metres.
(Pair of howls.)
DAX: Another happy couple.
WORF: When I was a boy, my father used to take my brother and me on camping trips in the Ural mountains. Every night we would listen to the wolves howling in the distance. Nikolai was afraid of them, but I would lay in my tent for hours just listening. I remember being seized by the urge to just strip off my clothes and run into the night to live in the forest and become something wild.
DAX: He must have been rejected, he's moving away. She's not happy. (twig break) What? They're getting farther away, aren't they?
WORF: Yes, but it's because something is coming. And it is close.
(They throw everything behind a fallen tree trunk and take cover. Three Jem'Hadar enter the clearing. Dax shoots the first and Worf the second, shots are exchanged then Worf throws his mek'leth to kill the third.)
WORF: Jadzia?
(Dax has been hit in the abdomen. She is whimpering in pain.)
WORF: Lie still.
DAX: I think I can do that.
(Worf scans her.)
DAX: Can I have the good news first?
WORF: No vital organs were damaged.
DAX: Now the bad news?
WORF: The disruptor burst left an anti-coagulant in your system.
DAX: So you can't stop the bleeding.
WORF: No.
DAX: Well, I must not have taken the whole burst. I'm not haemorrhaging that bad yet. Just keep me pumped full of painkillers and let's be on our way.
WORF: Moving could make the bleeding worse.
DAX: Staying here isn't an option. Someone's going to come looking for them when they don't check in. I'd rather take my chances on foot. You ready? You ready?
WORF: Ready.
DAX: Let's go.
(Next day, Worf has been up a tree to get a better look around.)
WORF: We are still twelve kilometres from the rendezvous point.
DAX: And only twenty hours left. Well, I guess it's time we stop having so much fun and pick up the pace, huh? Oh, more plasma? No, thanks. I'm full.
WORF: Your blood pressure has dropped another twenty percent.
DAX: Love that bedside manner. You know, you should have been a doctor.
WORF: Your bandage will need to be changed soon.
DAX: I think I'd like a blue chiffon bandage this time. Maybe some rhinestones. Something with a little pizzazz.
WORF: This is no joking matter. You are seriously injured and we have a great deal of terrain to cover.
DAX: Just trying to lighten the mood.
WORF: This is neither the time nor the place.
DAX: What happened to that new Worf? You know, the one with the sense of humour?
WORF: That was a mistake.
DAX: What is that supposed to mean?
WORF: It means if I had not been joking with you, I would not have allowed the Jem'Hadar to get so close.
DAX: So this is all my fault.
WORF: No. It is mine. I was trying to be something I am not. By letting down my guard, by ignoring my duty, I allowed my wife to be injured and I put the entire mission in jeopardy. It will not happen again.
DAX: That's not what happened. Without our tricorders there's no way
WORF: I do not wish to debate this. We have a long way to go and very little time.
DAX: Fine. Let's go.
(More shots of them marching on, but Dax is starting to flag. She leans against trees then shrugs off Worf's helping hand. They stop to rest and he takes a sextant bearing.)
WORF: Ready?
(Near a waterfall they clamber over a fallen tree, and she collapses in pain.)
DAX: Hypo. There. Good as new.
WORF: I have to change your dressing.
DAX: That's four bandages in two hours. That's got to be some kind of record. Oh, sorry. I forgot the new rules. Nothing funny. Got to be serious. Life and death. We've got a job to do.
WORF: Jadzia, I know you are tired, but we have to cover three kilometres before nightfall. Can you do it?
DAX: As long as you got those painkillers, I'll follow you through the gates of hell, sir. That was almost a smile.
WORF: When this mission is over, I will smile all you want.
DAX: Oh, you promise?
WORF: I promise.
DAX: Then let's finish the mission and get out of here. Whoa. It's all right, I can stand. Just help me get my balance. I got my balance. Maybe not.
(Another scan.)
DAX: Let me guess. Things aren't looking up.
WORF: There has been another drop in your blood pressure and your neural EDL readings are erratic.
DAX: So what's your prescription, Doc?
WORF: Surgery. At a Starbase.
DAX: Can I get a second opinion? Worf, you have to go on without me and I know that. I understand.
WORF: My duty requires that I complete the mission regardless of my personal feelings.
DAX: Absolutely. You're a Starfleet officer. So am I. I understand.
WORF: The information Lasaran has could be potentially invaluable to the war effort.
DAX: You don't have to explain yourself. I'm hurt, you're not. And there's a job to do.
WORF: I will be back tomorrow night.
DAX: Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere.
WORF: I can have you in the stasis chamber on the runabout in forty five hours.
DAX: No problem.
WORF: I will leave the medkit. Scan yourself with the tricorder every half hour. The plasma hypospray will be set
DAX: I took basic first aid. I know what I have to do. Worf, it's been a great two months, hasn't it?
WORF: Yes. Jadzia, I just want to tell you how
DAX: Just kiss me and go.
(Worf obeys, gives her a rifle and leaves her crying. He runs through the jungle, his heartbeat pounding and drowning out the animal sounds until he stops. As the Klingon heart beats, he looks forwards and back then throws his mek'leth into a tree. Jadzia is unconscious when he reaches her, so he carries her on his shoulders.)
[Infirmary]
SISKO: What's the word?
WORF: She is still in surgery, but Doctor Bashir is hopeful she will make a full recovery.
SISKO: Lasaran's dead. Starfleet Intelligence intercepted a transmission saying that he'd been killed trying to re-enter the base at Soukara. Could you have made the rendezvous?
WORF: Yes.
SISKO: Yet you turned back to save Jadzia?
WORF: Yes.
SISKO: Were you aware that the information that man had could have saved millions of lives?
WORF: Yes.
SISKO: So what happened?
WORF: You may not understand.
SISKO: Try me, sir.
WORF: You were at my wedding. You heard the story of the first two Klingon hearts and how nothing could stand against them, and how they even destroyed the gods that created them. I have heard that story since I was a boy but I never understood it, I mean really understood it, until I was standing in the jungle with my heart pounding in my chest and I found that even I could not stand against my own heart. I had to go back and it did not matter what Starfleet thought or what the consequences were. She was my wife and I could not leave her.
SISKO: As your captain, it is my duty to tell you that you made the wrong choice. I don't think Starfleet will file any formal charges. Even a secret court martial would run the risk of revealing too much about their intelligence operations. But this will go into your service record, and to be completely honest, you probably won't be offered a command on your own after this.
WORF: I understand.
SISKO: I have also issued new orders. You and Jadzia are not to be assigned to a mission on your own ever again. And one last thing. As a man who had a wife, if Jennifer had been lying in that clearing I wouldn't have left her either.
[Surgery]
(Worf is holding Dax's hand when she wakes.)
DAX: Hey, I know you.
WORF: We have met.
DAX: Ah, you're joking again. That's a good sign. Did you make the rendezvous?
WORF: No. I could not leave you there. Not for Lasaran, not for the mission, not for anything else.
DAX: Lasaran?
WORF: Dead.
DAX: Are you in trouble?
WORF: I have been in trouble before.
DAX: I'm sorry. I should've kept going.
WORF: You have nothing to be sorry about.
DAX: I know how much your career means to you.
WORF: You come first. Before career, before duty, before anything. I do not regret what I did. And I would do it again.
DAX: I don't know what to say.
WORF: You could say, thank you for saving my life.
DAX: Thank you for saving my life.
WORF: And you could say, I would do the same for you, Worf.
DAX: Well, I'd have to think about that. My career is very important to me, you know.
WORF: And you could say I love you.
DAX: I love you.
WORF: And I love you.
2024-09-13 19:23:22 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
