EMISSARY (*1.1)

teleplay by Michael Piller
story by Rick Berman & Michael Piller
directed by David Carson
music by Dennis McCarthy
stardate 46379.1:

Commander Ben Sisko and his son Jake, both survivors of the Wolf 359 Borg massacre, arrive at the planet Bajor as part of a Starfleet team taking over the abandoned Cardassian space station Deep Space 9. The station, which was inentionally damaged by the Cardassians before they left it behind, is being pieced together by newly-transferred Operations Chief O'Brien from the Enterprise. Sisko also meets Major Kira, his Bajoran first officer who doubts the ability of the provisional government of Bajor to avert a civil war and trusts the Federation even less; Odo, a mysterious shapeshifter in charge of station security; and Quark, the suspicious Ferengi kingpin who's eager to get out of town before the regulatory hand of the Federation clamps down on his shady "business" affairs. Sisko is summoned to the Enterprise for a briefing with Captain Picard, whom he still remembers as the man responsible for the death of thousands, including Sisko's wife, in the Borg invasion attempt. Picard gives Sisko the Federation's orders regarding management of Deep Space 9 - to do everything, short of violating the prime directive, to get the struggling Bajora back on their feet so they can join the Federation. Sisko, however, is considering resigning from Starfleet to raise his son in a better environment. Soon afterward, the Enterprise departs to undertake other duties as the station's new doctor, the brilliant but inexperienced Julian Bashir, and science officer Jadzia Dax arrive. Dax, a Trill who has lived in a number of bodies, is an old friend of Sisko's. Sisko, at the suggestion of Kira, travels to Bajor and visits Bajoran spiritual leader Kai Opaka, who tells Sisko that he is to be the emissary of the people to the temple of their gods. Opaka reveals an Orb, a mystic object of a type which has appeared throughout Bajoran history. The Orb envelops Sisko in a brief recollection of his first meeting with his wife, and then releases him. Opaka gives him the Orb, and the news that Sisko - whether he likes it or not, whether he even knows it or not - will find the temple. He returns to Deep Space 9 and hands the Orb over to Dax for further study. The Cardassians return, ostensibly to make use of the station's amenities. Dax discovers that reports of the Orbs' appearances correspond to a certain area of space near Bajor. She and Sisko set out in a Federation Runabout to investigate, and stumble across a wormhole that shoots them 70,000 light years across the galaxy. Trying to return to the station, their ship is halted. Dax is taken back to the station by an Orb, while Sisko is kept and studied by noncorporeal beings who built the wormhole. These beings have no conception of linear time, existing simultaneously in the past, present and future, and they ask Sisko questions about the ephemeral nature of humans, which they do not comprehend. Dax, back on Deep Space 9, fills the crew in on details of the wormhole. Major Kira orders O'Brien to shift the station's position so that it stands in front of the wormhole. A Cardassian ship, however, enters the wormhole, but is damaged by the wormhole life forms. When another Cardassian flotilla arrives and finds no sign of the missing ship, they threaten to open fire on Deep Space 9 unless Kira agrees to surrender the station. In the wormhole, the aliens' study of Sisko reaches an end when they discover the human drive for knowledge, and they are puzzled by Sisko's inability to live down the death of his wife. At the station, Kira's brinksmanship abilities and her feisty confrontations with the Cardassians result in a firefight, damaging the station heavily. The solution to the confrontation lies with Sisko, if he can overcome the wormhole beings' manifestations of his inner barriers and escape from the wormhole.

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A MAN ALONE (*1.2)

•teleplay by Michael Piller
•story by Gerald Sanford and Michael Piller
•directed by Paul Lynch
•music by Jay Chattaway
•Stardate 46421.5:

During routine banter with Quark on the Promenade, Odo spots Ibundan, a Bajoran man he jailed months ago for murder, and the old enemies get into a fight almost immediately. Not long afterward, Ibundan is found dead in one of the Promenade's holosuites, and evidence has been carefully placed to lead a trail to Odo, a suspicion which spreads among the station's populace along with rumors of Odo being a Cardassian agent and a growing paranoia. Bashir and Dax begin putting together pieces of a puzzle which include DNA traces from Ibundan's ship, but in the meantime, the station's residents grow restless and demand that Odo be handed over to be punished for a crime they believe he committed. While Sisko and his crew are working full-time on finding the solution to the crime, the denizens of Deep Space 9 seem to have no intention of allowing Odo to survive l ong enough to stand trial.

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PAST PROLOGUE (*1.2)

•written by Kathryn Powers
•directed by Winrich Kolbe
•music by Jay Chattaway
•Stardate not given:

Shortly after Dr. Bashir excitedly reports to Sisko a meeting with a merchant who happens to be the only remaining Cardassian on the station, a Bajoran ship is detected with hostile Cardassians hot in pursuit. The single occupant of the damaged Bajoran vessel is beamed aboard and is discovered to be a member of a group of violent Bajoran extremists who have not yet ceased their terrorism against the Cardassians. Requesting asylum, all Tahna does is invite Sisko's suspicion. Sisko is further put in a tenuous situation when the Cardassian ship's commander demands that Tahna be turned over for his crimes against the Cardassians. Kira, herself a former member of Tahna's underground, tries to convince Tahna to give up his violent tactics, but he refuses, and it turns out that his visit to Deep Space 9 is all part of another of his inevitably bloody gambits for revenge. This time, however, Tahna plans action not only against the Cardassians, but the Federation as well - and he expects Kira to help him.

 
 
 
 
 

BABEL (*1.3)

•teleplay by Michael McGreevey and Naren Shankar
•story by Sally Caves and Ira Steven Behr
•directed by Paul Lynch
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate 46425.8:

Business as usual is keeping O'Brien the busiest man on DS9, as systems continuously break down almost at random, mainly food replicators. In the course of his repairs, O'Brien accidentally activates a concealed Bajoran device designed to release an adaptive virus into the food generated by that replicator. He is immediately stricken with the disease, which scrambles his brain's ability to connect language, stimuli and responses. Quark, impatient to get service back on schedule at his bar, unwittingly spreads the virus to all of his patrons, and a stationwide epidemic ensues. Bashir, before falling victim to the virus himself, discovers that the plague was created by the Bajora in an attempt to prevent the construction of the station years ago, and it is eventually fatal. Most of the population is rendered useless, with a few exceptions, among them Odo, Major Kira and Quark. They must find an antidote to the virus and try to ensure the station's safety until a cure can be found.

 
 
 
 
 

CAPTIVE PURSUIT (*1.3)

•teleplay by Jill Sherman Donner and Michael Piller
•story by Jill Sherman Donner
•directed by Corey Allen
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate not given:

The first ship from the Gamma Quadrant emerges through the wormhole and arrives at DS9. Its single occupant is convinced to dock at the station to allow the crew to repair his battle-damaged vessel. O'Brien tries to get acquainted with the alien, who identifies itself only as Tosk. As soon as no one is watching, however, Tosk begins trying to determine how to fight and hide on the station. Odo discovers Tosk tampering with a security junction and Tosk winds up in the brig. A second ship arrives from the wormhole. Sisko gives the new visitors every chance to make friendly contact, but they instead disrupt the station's shields and beam into the Promenade without permission. Armed, they begin searching for Tosk and hold the crew at bay. It turns out that they are game hunters searching for Tosk, and advise the crew of DS9 to stay out of their way. O'Brien decides to take the rules of the hunt into his own hands to prevent Tosk from having to be bagged in captivity and disgrace.

 
 
 
 

Q-LESS (*1.4)

•teleplay by Robert Hewitt Wolfe
•story by Hannah Louise Shearer
•directed by Paul Lynch
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate 46531.2:

A Runabout barely returns from the Gamma Quadrant after experiencing a power loss on its way back to DS9. The crew must be rescued by Sisko, Kira and O'Brien on arrival, and they have brought a passenger back from the other side: Vash, Captain Picard's old flame from a vacation on Risa, last seen going off to explore the universe with Q. Vash has apparently been wandering through the Gamma Quadrant on her own for two years, and once she gets settled in on the station, begins making plans to sell several artifacts from the Gamma Quadrant. In the meantime, power failures begin occurring on DS9, coinciding with the arrival of Q, who is pestering Vash to continue her travels with him. Q also introduces himself to Sisko and the station crew and delights in irritating them as much as he has always enjoyed badgering the Enterprise crew. In the meantime, Vash meets Quark and they begin planning an auction of her Gamma Quadrant loot - off of which they both expect to make a fortune. Power failures and Q continue to plague the station, climaxing with a gravitational force sucking DS9 straight toward the wormhole. Sisko is unsure whether an unknown natural phenomenon is dragging the station to its doom, or if Q is simply playing another of his infamous pranks.

 
 
 

DAX (*1.4)

•teleplay by D.C. Fontana and Peter Allan Fields
•story by Peter Allan Fields
•directed by David Carson
•music by Jay Chattaway
•Stardate 46910.1:

A small group of Klaestrons try to kidnap Lt. Dax from the station, but Sisko snags their ship in the station's tractor beam before they can escape with their hostage. The leader of the Klaestron party, Ilon Tandro, claims to be carrying out the extradition of Dax on charges of treason and the murder of Tandro's military father 30 years before, when Dax inhabited the host body Curzon. Sisko, not believing the charges and unable to comprehend Dax's silence regarding the situation, stalls the Klaestrons' plans by calling for an extradition hearing overseen by a Bajoran judge, and sends Odo to Klaestron 4 to find out as much as he can about Curzon Dax's activities 30 years ago. Meanwhile, time, and possibly the letter of the law, are against the case for Dax's freedom and survival.

 
 
 
 

THE PASSENGER (*1.5)

•teleplay by Morgan Gendel, Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Michael Piller
•story by Morgan Gendel
•directed by Paul Lynch
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate not given:

As Odo and Starfleet newcomer Lt. Primmin irritate each other while trying to coordinate security for the transfer of a deuridium shipment due to arrive at DS9, a Runabout is sent to aid a crippled Kobliad prison ship, containing investigator Ty Kajada and two corpses, one of which was a notorious Kobliad criminal known as Rao Vantika, who, even after being pronounced dead by Bashir, is still considered a major threat by Kajada. Dax discovers, during post-mortem investigations, that Vantika was capable of transferring his consciousness into the mind of any other being without the recipient's consent or even their knowledge. The vital shipment may be lost to Vantika, whoever his evil ambitions inhabit now - and he has henchmen waiting to assist him on the station.

 
 

MOVE ALONG HOME (*1.5)
 
•teleplay by Frederick Rappaport, Lisa Rich and Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci
•story by Michael Piller
•directed by David Carson
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate not given:

A group of Gamma Quadrant aliens led by Falow makes first contact with the station, an event which Sisko intends to treat with the utmost seriousness and ceremony. Sisko is surprised, however, when Falow and his fellow travelers seem to be interested only in games. After Sisko leaves the proceedings out of boredom and mild disappointment, Quark cheats Falow in his casino, and Falow means to get even by introducing Quark to a game from the Gamma Quadrant. At the same time, Sisko, Dax, Major Kira and Dr. Bashir vanish from the station without a trace, finding themselves in a surreal maze occupied by images of Falow and others. As they try to work out the puzzle and help each other survive, Quark continues to play the game, only gradually becoming aware of who his pawns are.

 
 
 

THE NAGUS (*1.6)

•teleplay by Ira Steven Behr
•story by David Livingston
•directed by David Livingston
•music by John Debney
•Stardate not given:

Quark receives a surprise - and something of a dubious honor - when Grand Nagus Zek, a Ferengi business mogul, arrives at DS9. After some customary patronizing at Quark's, Zek insists on holding a conference of Ferengi profiteers there, while Quark fears that Zek plans on buying out his bar on the station. To everyone's surprise, especially Quark's, Zek announces his retirement and declares that Quark will succeed him to the coveted position of Grand Nagus. Many of the visiting Ferengi are jealous, as would be expected of them. But Quark discovers - after a close call - that someone among the Ferengi is jealous enough to try gaining the position of Nagus by killing him.

 
 
 

VORTEX (*1.6)

•written by Sam Rolfe
•directed by Winrich Kolbe
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate not given:

Quark and Rom are involved in a shady deal with a pair of twin Miradorns when a recent visitor from the wormhole interrupts, kills one of the Miradorn brothers, and tries to steal a valuable item. Odo turns out to have been present all along and intervenes before the surviving Miradorn can exact vengeance, but Croden, the visitor from a distant planet Rakhar troubles Odo even more, for he may have a clue to the shapeshifter's origins in the Gamma Quadrant. Odo must decide whether or not to trust the criminal when Sisko orders him to transport Croden back through the wormhole to Rakhar - and the surviving Miradorn brother leaves DS9 to follow the Runabout carrying his brother's murderer.

 
 
 
 

BATTLE LINES (*1.7) 

•teleplay by Richard Danus and Evan Carlos Somers
•story by Hilary J. Bader
•directed by Paul Lynch
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate not given:

On a routine day at the station, Kai Opaka, the Bajoran spiritual leader who helped lead Sisko to discover the wormhole when he first arrived at DS9, pays a surprise visit. Sisko, Kira and Bashir take Opaka on her first trip through the wormhole. Before they can return to the station, a signal is detected from a series of satellites orbiting a moon in the Gamma Quadrant. When Sisko's Runabout investigates, it is fired on by one of the satellites, forcing the ship to crash-land on the moon. Opaka dies on impact, but before Kira has long to grieve, warriors appear and take the crash survivors back to their camp. It is discovered that two groups of combatants have been stranded there for centuries, fighting a war in which no one ever dies - not even newcomers who find themselves in the line of fire.

 
 

THE STORYTELLER (*1.7)

•teleplay by Kurt Michael Bensmiller & Ira Steven Behr
•story by Kurt Michael Bensmiller
•directed by David Livingston
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate 46729.1:

As the leaders of two Bajoran factions arrive on the station where Sisko hopes to diplomatically steer them away from solving their differences in combat, O'Brien and Dr. Bashir depart to Bajor in response to a distress call which vaguely stated that an entire community is jeopardized. Bashir is puzzled to find all of the villagers except one - the elderly Sirah - in perfect health, yet the locals still insist that they are in mortal danger. They discover, when the Sirah makes his appearance at a yearly festival (against Bashir's recommendation), that the threat comes from the legendary Dal'Rok, a mythical creature which descends upon the village for five nights of each year in an attempt to destroy it. But every year in the past several generations, the village Sirah told a Story, somehow halting the Dal'Rok's onslaught. This year, the Sirah will not complete his Story...

 
 

PROGRESS (*1.8)

•written by Peter Allan Fields
•directed by Les Landau
•music by John Debney
•Stardate 46844.3:

With the aid of the station crew, the Bajoran provisional government prepares to convert a moon into part of a power system needed to help Bajor overcome the damage caused by decades of Cardassian rule. On a final inspection flyover of the moon, Kira and Dax detect humanoid life on the suface. Kira beams down and finds stubborn old Mullibok, who has been living on the moon almost since the Cardassians arrived to take over Bajor. Mullibok and his two neighbors rendered mute by Cardassian torture years ago refuse to leave the moon, even when Kira warns that the conversion of the moon into a power facility will kill all life there. But when Kira begins the first steps of the provisional government's orders to remove the settlers by force, she finds herself sympathetic with Mullibok's plight and joins in their fight to stay until the imminent end.

 
 

IF WISHES WERE HORSES (*1.8)

•teleplay by Neil McCue Crawford & William L. Crawford and Michael Piller
•story by Neil McCue Crawford & William L. Crawford
•directed by Robert Legato
•music by Jay Chattaway
•Stardate 46853.2:

The strange behavior of space near the wormhole and the sudden appearance in Chief O'Brien's quarters of a character from a bedtime story read to Molly signal the beginning of an alien study of the station's crew from the vantage point of manifestations of their imaginations, ranging from a favorite baseball player of Sisko's to a pair of ravishing beauties (appearing, naturally, on Quark's arms) to the girl of Bashir's dreams - Dax, but with a far different personality. At first the apparitions seem harmless, but it then seems that they are capable of posing danger to the crew.

 
 

THE FORSAKEN (*1.9)

•teleplay by Don Carlso Dunaway and Michael Piller
•story by Jim Trombetta
•directed by Les Landau
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate 46925.1:

A handful of Federation ambassadors boards Deep Space 9 on a fact-finding mission - one which is failing to get off the ground since the delegates seem unable to cope with the fact that the station isn't exactly a proper Federation starbase. Among the delegates is Lwaxana Troi, who becomes enamoured of Odo after he retrieves a stolen item of hers from a thief at Quark's bar. As she begins scheming to snare the constable, a small probe emerges from the wormhole, and to O'Brien's surprise, the station computer actually works well enough for once to download information from the probe. The probe's effect on the station computer is inexplicable, including stranding Odo in a stuck turbolift with Lwaxana Troi...

 
 

DRAMATIS PERSONAE (*1.9)

•written by Joe Menosky
•directed by Cliff Bole
•music by Jay Chattaway
•Stardate 46922.3:

A Klingon ship makes an unexpected return from a scientific mission in the Gamma Quadrant and self-destructs. A single member of the ship's crew beams himself into Ops, dying shortly after cryptically announcing "victory." As Dax and O'Brien start trying to piece together the mystery of the Klingon ship, divisions take place between members of DS9's crew. Kira, still unsatisfied after losing an argument with Sisko about security arrangements for a shipload of possible allies of the Cardassians, begins to plot against the commander, quietly gathering loyal followers among the crew and threatening those who don't sympathize with her cause. Sisko, in the meantime, goes into hiding supposedly for security reasons, as he and Chief O'Brien prepare for Kira's imminent mutiny. Odo remains the only officer who hasn't taken up arms with either side yet, since he has his own motive.

 

DUET (*1.10)

•teleplay by Peter Allan Fields
•story by Lisa Rich & Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci
•directed by James L. Conway
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate not given:

A Federation freighter arrives and delivers a passenger who needs medical attention. At the mention of the passenger's disease, Kira realizes that whoever it is, they were at a forced labor camp operated on Bajor by the Cardassians which Kira helped to liberate years ago. But the patient turns out to be a Cardassian. Kira places him under arrest and, against Sisko's advice, interrogates him. Under questioning, the Cardassian suddenly proclaims himself to be Gul Darhe'el, who commanded the labor camps and authorized genocidal killings of Bajorans. Kira, along with the Bajoran provisional government, takes a more vested interest in proving him guilty of past atrocities...even if he isn't who he says he is.

 
 

IN THE HANDS OF THE PROPHETS (*1.10)

•written by Robert Hewitt Wolfe
•directed by David Livingston
•music by Dennis McCarthy
•Stardate not given:

Vedek Winn, a Bajoran spiritual leader who is a prime contender for the position of Kai, appears in Keiko's classroom and declares that Keiko's scientific teachings about the wormhole are in conflict with Bajoran beliefs. Winn's announcement divides the Federation officers and Bajorans on the station who follow Winn. Sisko attempts to enlist the aid of Vedek Bareil, the quiet leader in the race to become Kai, but initially meets with no cooperation. When terrorist acts begin, it becomes apparent that Bajoran political interests may also be deeply involved - and the Federation crew of Deep Space 9 may have outstayed their welcome.