History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E16ProphetMotive

The Ferengi boys try to break into the Nagus's ship, only to get caught by Maihar'du. But instead of wring their necks, he lets them inside. It seems the silent manservant is just as concerned as them about the Nagus's behavior. He shows them the gift that Zek is planned to give the Bajorans: an Orb of Wisdom. Quark accidentally gazes into the Orb and has a vision of Zek taunting him. Afterwards, he and Rom figure out through the Nagus's logs that he went into the wormhole to gain insight into the future from the prophets, who instead made him charitable. The trio kidnap Zek and take him into the wormhole to convince the prophets to change him back.

* EasilyForgiven: Before being restored to his old self, Zek is cheerfully forgiving of Quark, Rom, and Maihar'du kidnapping him and stuffing him in a sack. He even admits that he ''should'' be mad, but finds Quark too darn likable to get angry at him. Even once he's restored, Zek doesn't seem to hold a grudge, instead gleefully telling Quark about his plan to sell the Orb of Wisdo back to the Bajorans for all it's worth and then some.

* EasilyForgiven: Before being restored to his old self, Zek is cheerfully forgiving of Quark, Rom, and Maihar'du kidnapping him and stuffing him in a sack. He even admits that he ''should'' be mad, but finds Quark too darn likable to get angry at him. Even once he's restored, Zek doesn't seem to hold a grudge, instead gleefully telling Quark about his plan to sell the Orb of Wisdom back to the Bajorans for all its worth and then some.

* {{Fainting}}: The revised Rules of Acquisition very nearly make Quark do this. When he hears number 285 ("A good deed is its own reward") he has a severe attack of the vapors and has to sit down while fanning himself.

[[caption-width-right:350:Looks like they found the script for [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E15Threshold "Threshold"]].]]

The Ferengi boys try to break into the Nagus's ship, only to be caught by Maihar'du. But instead of ring their necks, he lets them inside. It seems the silent manservant is just as concerned about the Nagus's behavior. He shows them the gift that Zek is planned to give the Bajorans: a Orb of Wisdom. Quark accidentally gazes into the Orb and has a vision of Zek taunting him. Afterwards, he and Rom figure out through the Nagus's logs that he went into the wormhole to gain insight into the future from the prophets, who instead made him charitable. The trio kidnap Zek and take him into the wormhole to convince the prophets to change him back.

Inside the wormhole, Quark receives an audience from the prophets, who speak to him in the guise of people he knows. They admit to changing the Nagus after finding him Ferengi outlook to be aggressive and obnoxious. They threaten to do the same thing to Quark. The barkeep gives a passionate defense of Ferengi values, arguing that greed is good, and without ambition, nothing would ever get done. The prophets are unimpressed and would rather just be left alone. Quark points out that continuing to change Ferengi will only increase curiosity in the wormhole and bring more people looking to find out what's going on. The prophets relent.

A big group of supporters all gather to watch the Carrington Award presentation. It goes to one of the dark horse candidates, and everyone groans in sympathy for Bashir. In private, Bashir admits that even though he really didn't think he was going to win, he still can't help but be dissappointed.

Quark is in his quarters in the midst of some very erotic negotiations with a woman named Emi, who is after Quark's supply of self-sealing stembolts. Rom suddenly bursts in telling him he needs to leave. It turns out that Grand Nagus Zek has unexpectedly arrived and wants to use his quarters. The Nagus and his manservant Maihar'du arrive and bust up the party, driving everyone out. Quark is left bunking with Rom, and the two brothers quickly descend into squabbling.

Meanwhile, the crew throw a surprise party for Bashir to announce that he's been nominated for a Carrington Award. Bashir is embarrassed and assures everyone that he won't win. Dax finally confronts him on his negative attitude, Bashir explains that the Carrington is effectively a lifetime achievement award, and he's far too young and unaccomplished to win.

Quark takes the Nagus to Bashir, who can't find anything wrong with him. In fact, the Nagus has quite all of his vices, so he's in better shape than ever. Zek announces that he's going to set up a charitable foundation to give away his riches, including a special gift for the Bajorans. He installs the brothers as his right-hand men in the endeavor. Rom throws himself into the role, but Quark realizes that if the Nagus were to reveal his new Rules of Acquisition on the Ferengi homeworld, the irate citizens would kill them all. Now the brothers will have to take desperate action to determine what's wrong with the Nagus.

Meanwhile, Odo meets with Bashir to tell him that he's received intelligence that the front-runner for the Carrington, meaning the award is up for grabs. Bashir reiterates that he does not expect to win, but Odo deduces that he's in the middle of writing an acceptance speech. Maybe the doctor is a little more invested than he lets on.

* AsYouKnow: Rom reminds Quark that Hupyrian servants can only speak to their masters. Justified, as Quark was at the end of the rope and the detail likely slipped his mind.

* CallBack:
** Prophet!Sisko noted that Zek wanted to see how the game ended. "The game" was how Sisko described the concept of linear time to the Prophets.

* TheComicallySerious: The Prophets' usual serious, godlike detachment being contrasted against Quark's usual antics makes for some... interesting comedy.

* {{Flanderization}}: An in-universe version, according to the Prophets, who say the Ferengi didn't use to be so obsessed with material wealth. If what they did to Zek is any indication, the Ferengi used to be [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis ridiculously generous and altruistic]].

-->'''Propher!Bashir''': It is corporeal.\\
'''Prophet!Jadzia''': A physical entity.\\
'''Prophet!Kira''': Not another one...

* PatrickStewartSpeech: An odd variation, with Quark defending the virtues of greed and ambition. Would Picard approve of that? Hell, would ''Gene'' have approved? That being said, it doesn't win over the Prophets, who point out that they're not proposing to eliminate those qualities from every living being, just Quark.

Grand Nagus Zek unexpectedly arrives on the station. When he reveals the revisions he plans to make to the Rules of Acquisition, Quark fears he may have gone insane and resolves to find out what's going on.

* WeWantOurJerkBack: Naturally; Ferengi society is based around being a jerk. Not only does Quark want the old Nagus back as a matter of personal preference, but the Nagus's proposed changes would likely get them all killed.

* CallBack: Prophet!Sisko noted that Zek wanted to see how the game ended. "The game" was how Sisko described the concept of linear time to the Prophets.

* PatrickStewartSpeech: An odd variation, with Quark defending the virtues of greed and ambition. Would Picard approve of that? Hell, would ''Gene'' have approved?

* {{Flanderization}}: An in-universe version, according to the Prophets, who say the Ferengi didn't use to be so obsessed with material wealth.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Arguably. The Prophets here are depicted much as they were in the pilot episode, namely SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who don't like a lot of the facets of corporeal existence (in this case, greed). In all their following appearances, they were shown as BenevolentPrecursors who were actively taking an interest in and guiding both Sisko and the Bajorans. Though it should be stressed that the prophets are non-linear.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The Prophets here are depicted much as they were in the pilot episode, namely SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who don't like a lot of the facets of corporeal existence (in this case, greed). In all their following appearances, they were shown as BenevolentPrecursors who were actively taking an interest in and guiding both Sisko and the Bajorans.