It's a somber anniversary for an insomniac Sisko: four years since the Borg assault on Wolf-359 and his wife's death during the attack. Wandering the promenade late at night, he meets a mysterious woman named Fenna. As the two discuss the stars, Sisko offers to show her around the station, only for her to mysteriously vanish when he turns around.
The next morning, Sisko is oddly peppy, drinking tea and striking up conversation with the ops crew. Kira finds this unusual morning mood quite unnerving, but business calls. Sisko is meeting noted terraform scientist Professor Gideon Seyetik, who is poking around inside a flux reactor.
Seyetik is a boasting, self-obsessed braggart, with good reason. His work has turned dead planets into lush, habitable paradises. His latest work is set to be his crowning achievement: breathing life back into a dead sun called Epsilon 119.
Gazing out a window yet again, Sisko is visited by Fenna again. When Sisko inquires about her, she panics and makes for the nearest turbolift. Concerned, Sisko visits Odo to ask for help finding her, but he realizes that he knows nothing about her background and can only provide a vague description of her appearance.
Sisko then heads with the rest of the crew to the Prometheus for dinner with Professor Seyetik. After regaling them with yet more stories of his lauded accomplishments, and admitting that he knows full-well that he's an egotistical braggard, Seyetik introduces his latest wife, a Halanan named Nidell. Sisko and Dax are shocked to find she looks exactly like Fenna. After finishing dinner, Sisko hangs back and grills Nidell about pretending to be someone else, but she insists she's never met Sisko before.
Returning to ops, Odo arrives with startling news. No one but Professor Seyetik has left the Prometheus since it arrived. That means Nidell couldn't have been with Sisko. Returning to his quarters, he's surprised to find Fenna waiting for him there. After a brief talk and a kiss, she vanishes again, this time literally fading into nothing right in front of Sisko's eyes. Determined to get answers, Sisko joins the expedition to reignite Epsilon 119.
As the ship journeys to the dead star, Seyetik talks about his favorite thing: himself. Namely how he met Nidell. After breathing life into her planet, she became infatuated with him. The two got married, and Seyetik took her off-world. During this story, Seyetik seems almost somber. His life has been an escalating chain of accomplishments and breakthroughs. He seems worried that Epsilon 119 will be the one achievement he can never top, and his drive to always do something better will be at an end. He quotes a Klingon epic poem, "Pity the warrior who slays all his foes."
Returning to his quarters on the ship, Sisko yet again finds Fenna waiting for him. He calls Dax to his quarters, but Dax is baffled when she scans Fenna. She reads as nothing but pure energy. Taking Fenna with them, they head for Nidell's quarters for answers. When they arrive, they find Nidell passed out and in shock. She appears to be dying, but there's nothing they can do. Then Seyetik spots Fenna. He is outraged that she dares show her face there. Wanting an answer to this mystery, Dax takes Fenna with her while Seyetik explains the situation.
Seyetik has had a lot of wives. Most found him fun for a time but eventually grew tired of his self-obsessed nature and left him. Nidell wants to leave him as well, but there's a hitch: Her species mate for life. Even though deep down she wants to end their marriage, she can't bring herself to do it. In addition to this, her species is telepathic. And due to her swirling emotions, Fenna came to be: a projection of what she wishes she could have. But Fenna's existence is killing her.
Sisko tries explaining this to Fenna, but she just can't believe it. But other issues arise. Namely, their arrival at Epsilon 119. The launch of the shuttlepod that will reignite the sun with Seyetik inside.
The crazy old fool has found a way to set his wife free and ensure Epsilon 119 will be his greatest and final scientific accomplishment. He compares himself to the warrior from the poem he quoted earlier and says that this star is his very last foe. He's going to ride the shuttlepod into the dead star.
Talking with Sisko over the com as he draws near, he makes sure to leave his obituary with him. With a jovial cry of "Let there be light!" the shuttlepod impacts, and Epsilon 119 is born anew. After this event, Fenna vanishes for good.
Back aboard DS9, Nidell asks what Fenna was like. Sisko's responds, "She was just like you."
Tropes
- Artistic License – Space: In reality, the universe is too young to have dead stars, as it takes trillions of years for red or white dwarfs to turn into dead stars and the universe is only 13.8 billion years old or so.
- Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Seyetik is a self-described "raging egomaniac", but in moments of reflection, it's clear that he's very aware of the limits of building his identity on his accomplishments and fame: he understands that his personality can wear on people, and he worries about reaching a point where he can no longer outdo himself. He also genuinely loves his wife, becomes desperate when she's in danger, and is ultimately willing to sacrifice his own life to give her a chance at happiness.Seyetik: She loves me. Don't ask me why.
- Bittersweet Ending: Nidell's life is saved, and while Seyetik may be dead, he most definitely went out in a blaze of glory. However, Fenna is gone, leaving Sisko heartbroken once again, and Nidell — much to her own regret — cannot remember anything about her.
- Continuity Nod:
- Jadzia mentions to Sisko that a woman being married wouldn't have stopped Curzon. Yeah, we know.
- Seyetik's experiment uses protomatter — the same "dangerously unpredictable" stuff that the Genesis team used. Here it goes off without a hitch, reigniting a dead star. Seyetik gives his life in the process, but that was not a requirement.
- When Seyetik is lavishing himself with praise, only O'Brien is unable to contain his annoyance. The camera sometimes lingers on his incredulous expression. We already know O'Brien doesn't suffer braggards well after seeing him have this same reaction to Bashir's anecdote about his Starfleet Academy exam in "Q-Less."
- Divorce Requires Death: Halanans mate for life, so no matter how much she wants to, Nidell won't leave Seyetik. In the end, Seyetik loves her enough that he's willing to die to set her free.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Knowing that he's never going to be able to top this accomplishment, and that his wife will never be happy with him, Seyetik opts to "sacrifice himself on the altar of science" by piloting a shuttle that reignites a dead star.Seyetik: Let there be light--!
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Seyetik brags about Nidell's cooking. Everyone seems to agree with him apart from her — when someone asks about the recipe, Nidell says it's actually Seyetik's.
- A Good Way to Die: Seyetik doesn't need to kill himself to complete his experiment, but he believes it will be the greatest accomplishment he could hope to achieve that will cap off a career of impressive accomplishments, and if he gives his life to do it, then what a way to go. He also knows that Nidell's projections will eventually kill her, and they'll never stop as long as he's still around.
- Hallucinations: Subverted. During the first act, the viewer is lead to believe that Fenna is all in Sisko's head, whether brought on by his sense of loneliness on the anniversary of Jennifer's death or this week's phlebotinum or alien. But then Dax mentions she has seen Fenna too... It's still the alien of the week, but Fenna is a psychokinetic projection of Nidell's unconscious mind, only discernible as Pure Energy to a tricorder.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Seyetik kills himself to reignite Epsilon 119. Zigzagged in that it was not necessary for him to die in the process, but in doing so he freed his wife from their unhappy marriage.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Sisko knows he has to let Fenna go to save Nidell, who likely won't share Fenna's memories. Seyetik flies the shuttle full of protomatter into the star knowing that, because Halanans mate for life, Nidell can never be free of him until he's dead. And then back to Sisko, who doesn't attempt to rekindle a romance with Nidell, knowing how badly she wants to return home to New Halana.
- Insufferable Genius: Seyetik is an insufferable braggart, is fully aware that he's an insufferable braggart, and enjoys being an insufferable braggart. But he also has the skills to back it up.Seyetik: What were we talking about?
Sisko: You.
Seyetik: Of course, my favorite subject! - Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Seyetik is a raging egomaniac, but he's self-aware enough to know it. He's been married multiple times, and mentions, without bitterness, that all his previous wives "had the good sense to leave [him]". He genuinely loves Nidell, and feels terrible that she's unhappy with him and is unable to leave. In the end, he happily goes out with a bang, knowing that his legacy is secure, and that she has a chance of being happy without him.
- Lady in Red: Fenna. A besotted Sisko can barely describe the sexy, mysterious apparition beyond "she was wearing... red!" And how - the dress is practically a puff of red smoke around a sensational figure. To provide contrast, Nidell wears much more drab and modest outfits.
- Mental Affair: Nidell is unconsciously doing this through Fenna, and she doesn't even know it, with neither of them aware of the other. Seyetik reveals this isn't the first time it's happened.
- Must Have Caffeine:Kira: Every morning for the past year, I've seen you walk in here and start your day with a raktajino.Sisko: I love raktajino.
Kira: I know. You never even talk to anyone until you've had your first cup.
Sisko: Because I'm not awake until I've had my first cup. - Plato Is a Moron: When Seyetik claims that nothing of worth was made by a pessimist, Sisko responds that Van Gogh, Beckett and Erraka were hardly optimists. Seyetik comments that Sisko has made his point.
- Psychic Powers: Halanans like Nidell are capable of "psycho-projective telepathy". In Nidell's case, this manifests as a fully tangible doppelganger, Fenna, who only appears while Nidell is asleep; Fenna has no awareness of Nidell, and Nidell wasn't aware she was doing it at first, and has no control over it. Such occurrences are said to be the product of great mental stress, for Nidell the unhappiness of her marriage.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Fenna is warm and open and falls head-over-heels for Sisko, while Nidell is closed off and clearly weighted down by her thoughts. This even extends to their clothes for most of the episode: Fenna in red, Nidell in blue-green.
- Stepford Smiler: Both Seyetik and Nidell. Beneath the Happy Marriage Charade, their marriage has fallen into Dead Sparks.
- You Can See That, Right?: Sisko thinks he's going a little crazy until Dax says she saw Fenna too. She turns out not to be a hallucination, but a physical, telekinetic projection of Nidell's unconscious mind.
