History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E23ExtremeMeasures

* HowTheMightyHavenFallen: Downplayed, but it's revealed that Jaresh Inyo is no longer the UFP President. It's left unclear if he lost re-election or stepped down following Leyton's attempted coup.

* SuicidePill: Sloan has neural implant that can allow him to commit suicide upon capture, just like the Vorta.

* TechnoBabble: [[TheEngineer O'Brien]] of all people is confused by Bashir's explanation of the neural whatever link.

* TranquilFury: Sisko's reaction upon learning the true origin of the Morphogenic Virus' origins (and that Federation citizens have committed an act of genocide).

Late one night, Sloan [[TrespassingToTalk appears in Bashir's quarters]], as he's want to do, claiming to have a job for Bashir, but the doctor is ready. He raises a forcefield, trapping the spy. Sloan denies knowing anything about the plague, so Bashir stuns him and brings him to his lab, where O'Brien is waiting with the mind probes. When Sloan wakes up, he proclaims that he's willing to die to save the Federation and activates a [[SuicidePill suicide implant]] in his brain. Bashir springs into action to save his life but only manages to delay the inevitable. Sloan's brain has been scrambled, and he'll die within an hour. The only way to retrieve the information is for Bashir to [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind link directly with Sloan's mind]], but if he's still linked when Sloan dies, he'll die too, so he'll have to spike his blood pressure to eject himself before that happens. O'Brien insists on accompanying him in spite of the danger.

* TranquilFury: Sisko's reaction to the revelation to learning the truth of the Morphogenic Virus' origins (and that Federation citizens have committed an act of genocide).

Devastated, Bashir retires to his room to read Jadzia's copy of ''A Tale of Two Cities'', but he notices that the famous opening line of the story appears in the middle of the book as the [[AGlitchInTheMatrix text starts over]]. Bashir deduces they are still inside Sloan's mind, which can only reproduce the part of the book that Bashir recalls reading. He and O'Brien realize that they need to get back to that door they almost opened. Inside, Sloan is waiting with stacks of datapads containing everything there is to know about Section 31. Bashir races to read as much as he can so he can take down Section 31 for good, but O'Brien warns him that Sloan is trying to distract him long enough to die. Reluctantly, Bashir focuses on finding the cure and wakes up, this time for real. Bashir uses the knowledge he gained to create a cure and administers it to Odo, who is instantly cured. Later, O'Brien and Bashir share a toast afterhours at Quark's and then leave to have dinner with Keiko.

With the morphogenic plague in its final stages, Odo is dying, and Bashir builds a special hospital bed to ease his pain. Odo summons Kira to his bedside and tells her that he doesn't want her to have to witness the death of another lover, so he sends her away. She reluctantly complies with his final wish. Bashir and O'Brien finally come clean to Sisko about their last-ditch scheme to find a cure: abducting a Section 31 operative. Bashir admits that he's already put in the false report about finding a cure and has acquired illegal Romulan mind probes to extract the real cure from the operative. Appalled that Section 31 is behind the plague, Sisko decides to turn a blind eye toward the pair's plan.

Late one night, Sloane appears in Bashir's quarters, as he's want to do, claiming to have a job for Bashir, but the doctor is ready. He erects a forcefield, trapping the spy. Sloane denies knowing anything about the plague, so Bashir stuns him and brings him to his lab, where O'Brien is waiting with the mind probes. When Sloane wakes up, he proclaims that he's willing to die to save the Federation and activates a suicide implant in his brain. Bashir springs into action to save his life but only manages to delay the inevitable. Sloane's brain has been scrambled, and he'll die within an hour. The only way to retrieve the information is for Bashir to link directly with Sloane's mind, but if he's still linked when Sloane dies, he'll die too, so he'll have to spike his blood pressure to eject himself before that happens. O'Brien insists on accompanying him in spite of the danger.

Within Sloane's mind, the pair find themselves on Deep Space Nine. Sloane greets them as friends and tries to explain the cure, but his mental conditioning prevents him. He invites them to attend a reception of his loved ones in his honor, where he receives a datapad with the cure from his wife, but before he can hand it over, another version of Sloane shoots the friendly one, who disappears. O'Brien and Bashir give chase but get injured by a guard. Now trapped in Sloane's mind, the pair discuss their friendship before seeing "the light" of the afterlife approaching. They resolve not to give up and are about to open a nearby room when they suddenly find themselves snapped back to their lab, with Sisko, Worf and Ezri standing over them. They've escaped but failed, and Sloane dies, taking the cure with him.

Devastated, Bashir retires to his room to read Jadzia's copy of ''A Tale of Two Cities'', but he notices that the famous opening line of the story appears in the middle of the book as the text starts over. Bashir deduces they are still inside Sloan's mind, which can only reproduce the part of the book that Bashir recalls reading. He and O'Brien realize that they need to get back to that door they almost opened. Inside, Sloane is waiting with stacks of datapads containing everything there is to know about Section 31. Bashir races to read as much as he can so he can take down Section 31 for good, but O'Brien warns him that Sloane is trying to distract him long enough to die. Reluctantly, Bashir focuses on finding the cure and wakes up, this time for real. Bashir uses the knowledge he gained to create a cure and administers it to Odo, who is instantly cured. Later, O'Brien and Bashir share a toast afterhours at Quark's and then leave to have dinner with Keiko.

** Bashir counts on the fact that Section 31 won't be so crude as to blow up all of his files and will instead locate and surgically delete the cure. He also counts on the agent pulling the same TrespassingToTalk trick that Sloane always does and has a forcefield BoobyTrap waiting.

* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: Sloane is trying to keep Bashir and O'Brien from raiding his secrets within his mind.

* MindRape: Bashir intends to do this to Sloan using Romulan mind probes to get the cure to the changeling plague, willing or otherwise. Sloan triggers his SuicidePill neural implant to thwart this, but Bashir manages to keep him clinically alive long enough to get the information.
* NervesOfSteel: Even after getting captured, Sloan remains calm and snarky, only getting nervous when Bashir pulls out the Romulan mind probes.

* SignatureStyle: A plot point. Bashir's had enough experience dealing with Sloan by now to know what to expect. This is not only how Bashir's able to capture Sloane after his customary midnight 'drop in', but to also correctly deduce Sloan possesses the data on the cure. After all, Sloan is clever and likes employing surgical precision in his work. He would ''never'' blow up Bashir's entire lab just to destroy the cure when destroying the cure itself would be enough. As Bashir reasons, this means Sloan knows what to look for and thus knows how to synthesize the cure.

With the morphogenic plague in its final stages, Odo is dying, and Bashir builds a special hospital bed to ease his pain. Odo summons Kira to his bedside and tells her that he doesn't want her to have to witness the death of another lover, so he sends her away. She reluctantly complies with his final wish. Bashir and O'Brien finally come clean about their last-ditch scheme to find a cure: abduct a Section 31 operative. Bashir admits that he's already put in the false report that he's found a cure and has acquired illegal Romulan mind probes to extract the information. Sisko is shocked that Section 31 is behind the plague, so he decides to turn a blind eye toward the pair's plan.

Within Sloane's mind, the pair find themselves on Deep Space Nine. Sloane greets them as friends and tries to explain the cure, but his mental conditioning prevents him. He invites them to attend a reception of his loved ones in his honor, where he receives a datapad with the cure from his wife, but before he can hand it over, another version of Sloane shoots the friendly one, who disappears. O'Brien and Bashir give chase but get injured by a guard. Now trapped in Sloane's mind, the pair discuss their friendship before seeing "the light at the end of the corridor" of the afterlife approaching. They resolve to keep trying and are about to open a nearby room when they suddenly find themselves snapped back to their lab, with Sisko, Worf and Ezri standing over them. They've escaped but failed, and Sloane dies, taking the cure with him.

Devastated, Bashir retires to his room to read Jadzia's copy of ''A Tale of Two Cities'', but he notices that the famous opening line of the story appears in the middle of the book as the text starts over. Bashir deduces they are still inside Sloan's mind, which can only reproduce the part of the book that Bashir recalls reading. He and O'Brien realize that they need to get back to that door they almost opened. Inside, Sloane is waiting with stacks of datapads containing everything there is to know about Section 31. Bashir races to read as much as he can so he can take down Section 31 for good, but O'Brien warns him that Sloane is trying to distract him long enough to die. Reluctantly, Bashir focuses on finding the cure and wakes up, this time for real. Bashir uses the knowledge he gained to create a cure and administers it to Odo, who is instantly cured. Later, O'Brien and Bashir share a toast afterhours at Quarks and then leave to have dinner with Keiko.

** Bashir has a forcefield BoobyTrap waiting, know that Sloan will do his TrespassingToTalk intro. When Sloan claims not to know the cure, Bashir points out that he'd need to know what he was looking for while searching Bashir's files. Just blowing up his Sickbay would be too unsubtle and uncertain.
** Sloan's last ditch effort to prevent Bashir from curing the morphogenic virus: he tempts Bashir with all of Section 31's secrets, expecting Bashir's desire to destroy the agency to overwhelm his good sense and allow Sloan to take Bashir with him as he dies. O'Brien's presence is the only thing that keeps it from working.
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: More of a game of cat-and-mouse than a battle, but same idea.

** Sloan's habit of breaking into Bashir's quarters while he's sleeping to speak with him is turned against him.

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: The inside of Sloan's mind looks like the corridors of [=DS9=] -- at least, until it switches to the ''Defiant''.

* OhCrap: Sloan becomes quite visibly disturbed when Bashir states his intention to use Romulan mind probes to find the cure.

* SuicidePill: A neural implant, but still.

With the morphogenic plague ravaging Odo, Bashir is left troubled over the fact that the Federation could sanction Section 31 to create and use a biogenic weapon with the purpose of committing outright genocide against the Founders; even if they are at war, that the Federation would allow this to happen under their watch is a bitter pill for the good doctor to swallow. Both Bashir and O'Brien view Section 31 as a great evil that could not be suffered to continue for the sake of the Federation, and with its director Sloan willing to go to any lengths to complete his task, Bashir has decided the only way to best him and get the cure for Odo is to play his game. To that end, with Captain Sisko's blessing, Bashir sends out a fake report claiming that he found a cure for the morphogenic virus to lure out Sloan.

Sloan takes the bait, intruding upon Bashir's quarters at night with a mission to give him. This time, however, Bashir is ready for him; he erects a containment field around Sloan, and tells him that he needs a cure for Odo. Sloan feigns ignorance about a cure, but Bashir was prepared for the possibility that Sloan would not be willing to cooperate. Sloan warns Bashir that turning him over to Starfleet Security would prove fruitless, but unfortunately for him, Bashir has no such intentions; he lowers the field for a second to stun Sloan with his phaser, then takes him to sickbay and restrains him with a force field. Bashir knew that Sloan knew about the cure; otherwise, he would never have come to the station to try and lure Bashir away while he destroyed it. Since Sloan would never give up the cure willingly, Bashir was prepared to use rather underhanded means; with O'Brien's help, he would use illegal Romulan mind probes to get the information he needed.

Realizing that he underestimated Bashir, Sloan activates a neuro-depolarizing implant in his brain, killing himself instantly. Bashir manages to stabilize his vitals, but it is only a temporary measure; higher brain functions would cease within an hour. There is only one way to get the cure now; using a multitronic engrammatic interpreter to link his mind directly with Sloan's, allowing him to probe his memories directly. This was an incredibly dangerous proposition, however; Sloan's memory pathways would be scrambled as a result of his suicide implant, and if Bashir was still linked to Sloan's mind when his brain functions ceased, he would die as well. O'Brien insists on accompanying Bashir, with Bashir assuring O'Brien that once they are ready to leave, he can raise his own blood pressure at will to trigger the interpreter's failsafe, disconnecting himself so he can disconnect O'Brien as well.

When the two enter Sloan's mind, they find themselves in a turbolift on Deep Space 9, where they are greeted by Sloan. This rendition of Sloan appears cooperative and wishes to give the cure to Bashir, but when he tries to explain how the cure works, the dominant part of Sloan's mind prevents him from doing so until they attend a reception, where Sloan apologizes for all the harm he had done in his life and says fond farewells to his friends, family, and colleagues. Just as Sloan is about to give a datapad to Bashir with the cure, however, he is shot and killed by another Sloan, who Bashir and O'Brien chase through the halls of Sloan's mind, only for them to be shot and wounded by a guard.

As they laid in the corridor, exhausted, Bashir realizes that he can't increase his blood pressure, leaving them trapped in Sloan's mind. He and O'Brien have a heart-to-heart where Bashir confesses that he loves Ezri Dax, and that he had a sneaking suspicion that even though O'Brien loved his wife, he preferred Bashir's company. When they see "the light" coming from behind them in the corridor, they get to their feet and prepare to open a door that could lead to the cure, only for Bashir to awaken when Sisko removes the interpreter from his head. Sisko had pulled them out because Sloan's condition was rapidly deteriorating. Bashir tries to stabilize Sloan, but it is no use; he dies on the table.

Devestated, Bashir retires to his room to read Jadzia's copy of ''A Tale of Two Cities'', only to notice something peculiar; the opening line of the story appeared in the middle of the book. This could only mean one thing, as he explains to O'Brien: they are still inside Sloan's mind, with Sloan's subconsciousness trying to trick them into keeping their minds linked long enough for him to die, so Bashir and O'Brien can die with him. The door they were about to open before being tricked into thinking they had awakened must be the one that leads to the cure!

Through the door, Bashir and O'Brien find Sloan in an office with datapads strewn about. Sloan explains that everything about Section 31 is contained in this room, with Bashir amazed to find more than enough information to expose the organization and bring it down. O'Brien, however, warns Bashir that this is another trick; Sloan is trying to distract him and keep their minds linked as he dies. O'Brien finds the pad with information relating to the cure, and gives it to Bashir before convincing him to wake up.

Bashir increases his own blood pressure and triggers the interpreter's failsafe, this time awakening for real, with Sisko and Ezri nearby. After awakening O'Brien, Bashir sets to work using the knowledge he took from Sloan, now completely dead, to synthesize a cure and give it to Odo, who is instantly cured of the virus. O'Brien and Bashir then share a toast at Quark's, with Bashir thankful to O'Brien for saving him from Sloan's attempt to bait him.

When the two enter Sloan's mind, they find themselves in a turbolift on Deep Space 9, where they are greeted by Sloan. This rendition of Sloan appears cooperative and wishes to give the cure to Bashir, but when he tries to explain how the cure works, the dominant Sloan's mind prevents him from doing so until they attend a reception, where Sloan apologizes for all the harm he had done in his life and says fond farewells to his friends, family, and colleagues. Just as Sloan is about to give a datapad to Bashir with the cure, however, he is shot and killed by another Sloan, who Bashir and O'Brien chase through the halls of Sloan's mind, only for them to be shot and wounded by a guard.

* TheOner: One of the longest shots in all of ''Star Trek''; when Bashir and O'Brien are trapped in Sloan's mind and believe themselves doomed, they have a conversation about how much they "like" eachother; this entire conversation is held in one shot that runs just shy of three minutes in length.

* SignatureStyle: A plot point. Bashir's had enough experience dealing with Sloan by now to know what to expect. This is not only how Bashir's able to capture Sloane after his midnight 'drop in', but to also correctly deduce Sloan has the data on the cure. After all, Sloan is clever and likes surgical precision. He would ''never'' blow up Bashir's entire lab to destroy the cure when destroying the cure itself would be enough. As Bashir reasons, this means Sloan knows what to look for and thus knows how to synthesize the cure.

* SignatureStyle: A plot point. Bashir's had enough experience dealing with Sloan by now to know what to expect. This is not only how Bashir's able to capture Sloane after his midnight 'drop in', but to also correctly deduce Sloan has the data on the cure. After all, Sloan is clever and likes surgical precision. He would never blow up Bashir's entire lab to destroy when destroying the cure itself -- which means what to look for and thus knows the cure's components.
Sloan's clever, methodical style finally bites him in the ass here. Ba

* NotSoDifferent: Bashir is using an illegal and quite sinister method in order to do what he believes is right. Sloan was on to something when he wanted to recruit him for Section 31... But now, he calls Bashir a "dangerous man" instead - which, from Bashir's perspective, would certainly apply to Sloan himself.

* FamousLastWords: Sloan, before activating his neural depolarizer.
-->''"I misread you. I thought you were just a misguided idealist, but you're a dangerous man. People like you would destroy the Federation if given the chance. Fortunately, there are people like me...who will die to protect it."''

* BatmanGambit: Bashir has a forcefield BoobyTrap waiting, know that Sloan will do his TrespassingToTalk intro. When Sloan claims not to know the cure, Bashir points out that he'd need to know what he was looking for while searching Bashir's files. Just blowing up his Sickbay would be too unsubtle and uncertain.

* OtherMeAnnoysMe: A bizarre variation: just as Sloan is about to give Bashir the cure for Odo -- the part of himself who is repentant for the horrors he did, for the things he had to sacrifice in what he now sees as a wasted life -- another Sloan, the unfettered part of himself, shoots him.
* OutGambitted: Sloan finally gets out-played when Bashir lures him to DS9 with a fake story and captures him.

* RiddleForTheAges: Did Section 31 actually infect the Founders? They certainly didn't want anybody to find a cure, but it isn't explicitly determined if they were responsible.

* OutGambitted: Sloan finally gets out-played because he knew he might entice Bashir to stay too long and be taken with him in his final minutes in life, but O'Brien's dedication to the purpose of the mission is what shakes Bashir from his desire to learn more about Section 31.

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: This episode focuses on a single storyline, as opposed to switching between several threads.