Chief O'Brien and Nog are trying to repair a plasma distribution manifold inside Quark's bar, making a lot of racket. The pair simply can't get the thing to work, and O'Brien tells Sisko that he'll need to replace the manifold completely but can't make one himself. He'll need to go to Empok Nor, a sister station that was abandoned by the Cardassians, to scrounge one up. They recruit Garak to tag along to address any booby traps left behind by the Cardassians as well as Nog and a group of red-shirt engineers and security personnel: Boq'ta, Pechetti, Stolzoff, and Amaro.
On the way there, Garak challenges O'Brien to a war game and teases him about his war history fighting Cardassians, but O'Brien doesn't rise to the bait. When they get to the station, Garak disarms the trap and restores power to the station. Garak discovers three stasis pods, one containing a mummified Cardassian soldier and the other two empty. They realize that they've got two Cardassian soldiers running loose on the station. Worse, the pair have already destroyed their runabout, stranding them.
Prompted by an offhand comment from Amaro, O'Brien comes up with an idea to send "smoke signals" back to Deep Space Nine by modifying the station's deflector grid to emit a series of covariant pulses. To make things go faster, they split into three teams: Stolzoff and Pechetti, Amaro and Boq'ta, O'Brien, Nog, and Garak. As they get to work, however, Pechetti and Stolzoff are killed by the Cardassians. Garak, looking a little twitchy, announces that he's going to hunt down the Cardassians himself and tries to prod O'Brien, the war hero, to join him, but O'Brien passes. Garak manages to ambush one of the Cardassians and kills him, which he finds very enjoyable. A scan of the body reveals that the Cardassians have been pumped full of experimental drugs that heighten their xenophobia. O'Brien theorizes that they may have been an experiment that went wrong, which was why they were left on the station.The remaining Cardassian kills Boq'ta and is about to shoot Amaro before Garak kills him. But as Amaro thanks Garak for saving him, Garak stabs him, having gone kill-crazy on the drug himself.
Amaro lives just long enough to warn O'Brien and Nog before dying. A cat-and-mouse game ensues, with Garak taunting O'Brien through his combadge. He manages to capture Nog and lures O'Brien out to rescue the Ferengi cadet. The pair agree to a hand-to-hand duel to settle the dispute, and O'Brien disarms himself of his two phasers and tricorder. They brawl, and just as Garak gets the upper hand, O'Brien reiterates that he's an engineer these days, not a soldier, and triggers his booby-trapped tricorder, which explodes and knocks Garak out. Back at the station, O'Brien visits the recuperating Garak, who expresses remorse over his actions and asks O'Brien to convey his apologies to Amaro's wife. He's thankful that O'Brien's bomb didn't kill him, but O'Brien admits that killing him had been the plan. Garak replies that he understands, and O'Brien leaves him alone with his thoughts.
Tropes
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: While they're paired off, the security officer Stolzoff is standing so her phaser rifle is pointed right at Pechetti. When he complains, she patronizingly tells him the safety is on and keeps pointing it at him. Anyone trained with a firearm would know that the first rule of gun safety is not pointing your weapon at anything you don't intend to shoot at, regardless of whether the safety is on.
- Ax-Crazy: Cardassians become violently xenophobic under the psychotropic drug's influence, and Garak takes it a step further, enjoying killing the two Cardassian soldiers and sadistically taunting Nog and O'Brien.
- Badass Boast: "Death to all", the motto of the Cardassian Third Battalion.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Garak wanted an opportunity to test his mettle against O'Brien, seeing him as a worthy opponent. He gets what he wants by the end...
- Bilingual Bonus: A somewhat rare one. Garak and Nog play a board game called kotra. It is probably an accident, but kotra means backgammon in Icelandic.
- Bittersweet Ending: The mission does succeed, but it traumatizes Nog and costs the lives of four Starfleet officers, one of whom was murdered by a drugged and insane Garak, who bears the guilt of doing so.Garak: Mission accomplished.
- Black Dude Dies First: Averted, but just barely. Pechetti bites it mere seconds before Stolzoff.
- Blatant Lies: While holding Nog at phaser-point, Garak notes that he and O'Brien promised to meet unarmed. O'Brien points out the weapon in Garak's hands, and he pretends to act surprised, quipping, "How did this get here?"
- Blood from the Mouth: Amaro, after Garak stabs him.
- Bond One-Liner: In response to Garak mocking O'Brien as not being a real soldier, the latter quips "You're right, I'm an engineer" before detonating his phaser bomb. In a subversion, the blast only knocks Garak out, though O'Brien later admits he was aiming to kill him.
- Bottle Episode: In a similar vein to episodes from the previous shows that take place on a Constitution- or Galaxy-class starship besides the Enterprise, this one is set on a station of the same design as DS9, so they can use the same sets (but more dimly lit).
- Chekhov's Gun: The blue stuff that Garak is exposed to early on is what makes him go psycho.
- Darker and Edgier: Even by the show's usual standards, this episode features violence and horror themes that put it a cut above the rest; every one of the supporting cast is killed and their bodies are strung up to horrify both O'Brien and the audience. Even the setting, a dimly lit, booby-trapped, and nightmarish station of the same design as DS9 drives this home.
- Dead Guy on Display: A crazed Garak strings up the dead Starfleet officers to intimidate O'Brien.
- Developing Doomed Characters: The security personnel accompanying O'Brien, Nog and Garak are all given names, distinct personalities and backstories before biting the dust.
- "Die Hard" on an X: Inverted. It's a action-thriller told as a cat-and-mouse game aboard a space station, though it's the villains who are doing the hunting.
- Distressed Dude: Nog is captured by Garak, forcing O'Brien to rescue him.
- Don't Call Me "Sir": O'Brien, when Nog reports to the runabout and calls him "sir."O'Brien: One more "Sir" and I'm leaving you behind.
Nog: Thank you, s—Chief. - Dutch Angle: Empok Nor is always shown sideways to convey that it is both derelict and not the same station as DS9.
- Dwindling Party: The away team starts out with seven people, but by the end of the episode, between the deranged Cardassians and an equally affected Garak, only O'Brien, Nog, and Garak survive.
- Easily Forgiven: Neither O'Brien nor Garak hold any grudges when all is said and done; O'Brien knows Garak was Not Himself, and Garak considers O'Brien's self-defense perfectly justified.
- The Engineer: O'Brien's status as this gets highlighted, as he was formerly a soldier who fought on the front lines of an earlier war between the Federation and the Cardassians. He provides a handy demonstration of why Starfleet engineers are so well-respected when he rigs his tricorder into an improvised bomb.
- Evil Feels Good: After gunning down the first Cardassian soldier, a mildly surprised Garak notes to himself that it felt good.
- Famed In-Story: O'Brien, courtesy of the Battle of Setlik III. He still doesn't like to talk about it.
- Fantastic Racism:
- It's barely audible, but Amaro can be heard calling the Cardassians "spoon heads," which caused some controversy.
- Garak taunts O'Brien with the opportunity to kill "Cardies," another less-than-favorable term for Cardassians that O'Brien has openly used before.
- The Cardassian Psycho Serum is designed to amplify their natural xenophobia, literally making them violently racist. Garak, while under its effects, only refers to Nog as "the Ferengi".
- Faux Affably Evil: Under the influence of the Psycho Serum, Garak maintains his usual wit and cheerful disposition, but he pairs it with a gleefully sadistic madness and fondness for verbally screwing with his would-be victims.
- Foreshadowing: Garak rubs on his neck as he's announcing his intention to hunt down the Cardassians, which is the first clue that he's being consumed by the psychotropic drug.
- Ghost Ship: Space station, but the same general concept. (In fact the original script was to involve an actual ship that Worf and Garak happened upon.) With the whole thing tilted due to attitude control being out of alignment, darkened corridors filled with wreckage and abandoned detritus, and the occasional distant groan of unseen girders, it's unnervingly effective.
- How Did You Know? I Didn't: At the end of the episode, Garak compliments O'Brien for managing to detonate his tricorder bomb when Garak was at precisely the right distance for the blast to knock him out, but not kill him. O'Brien then admits that he had intended to kill him outright with the explosion, which Garak admits was a prudent goal.
- Human Popsicle: The Cardassians left three Ax-Crazy soldiers behind in stasis pods to guard Empok Nor from looters. One of the pods was breached by a falling girder, leaving two survivors.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: O'Brien tries to reason with Garak, but fails. Notably, this happens after he'd rejected the idea when Nog first proposed it.
- In the Back: Garak kills the second Cardassian soldier by shooting him in the back while he menaces Amaro.
- Jump Scare: Pechetti is idly examining a Cardassian insignia on a window when a crazed Cardassian soldier suddenly (and loudly) smashes through a nearby window and murders him.
- Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Garak admits that he's tempted to just shoot O'Brien, but decides that wouldn't be enough fun, so he drops his phaser and opts for them to fight hand-to-hand.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!:
- Pechetti and Stolzoff decide to split up after getting spooked by a turbolift activating itself. This makes them easier to pick off.
- O'Brien insists on the remaining crewmen splitting up to complete their mission, causing Boq'ta to lampshade how uncomfortable that makes him.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Downplayed, but Garak is clearly regretful for what he did under the drug's influence, apologizing to O'Brien and asking him to pass along his apologies to Amaro's wife.
- Not Himself: Garak is turned Ax-Crazy by the experimental compound the Cardassians left on Empok Nor.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Garak tells O'Brien that beneath his pacifistic Federation exterior, he's just as much a predator as the Cardassians he fought.
- Oh, Crap!: Nog, when he sees the runabout float away from Empok Nor and explode.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- A possible unintentional example. Earlier on, Garak's claustrophobia comes into play when he's unnerved by the thought of being in a stasis pod. When he willingly hides inside one and pops out with a cool Pre-Mortem One-Liner to take down an enemy, it's a sign he's not in his right mind.
- Played straight with Garak's initial assessment of the Third Battalion's presence. While they're fanatical by Cardassian standards, even Garak can't see them volunteering to lock themselves in stasis and stay behind on an abandoned station potentially for years. Garak's instincts are right on the money, as it's a hint there's more going on here.
- Railing Kill: One of the Cardassians ambushes Stolzoff and throws her over a railing.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Garak taunts O'Brien for no longer being a soldier. Subverted when O'Brien says "You're right. I'm an engineer." and uses an improvised bomb to stop him.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Stolzoff, despite being a trained security guard, points her phaser rifle at Pechetti. When he complains about it, Stolzoff's only response is that the safety is on.
- Red Shirt: Seven people go on the mission. One is a main cast member with his name in the opening credits, two are well-developed secondary characters, and four are minor crewmen never seen or mentioned before. Three people come back alive. Any guesses which?
- Sadist: Under the influence of the psychotropic agent, Garak becomes a bloodthirsty psychopath, gleefully taunting O'Brien and Nog and preferring to try and kill O'Brien with his own hands rather than just shooting him.
- Schmuck Bait: Pechetti gets distracted by an improbably placed Cardassian insignia, lowering his guard long enough for one of the Cardassians to get the drop on him. Later on Garak makes a point of telling O'Brien and Nog exactly where he is when he's studying the kotra board in the station commander's office; given his past as a spy, assassin, and saboteur, they really should have been expecting a trap.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Deep Space Nine is still, first and foremost, a Cardassian-built installation. While O'Brien and Starfleet have patched and tweaked as best as they can, replacing more critical and sensitive components/systems is difficult due to technological incompatibilities. Cardassia was never helpful or interested in helping Starfleet out and trying to obtain new components from Dukat's Dominion-backed regime is likewise a dead end.
- Too Dumb to Live: Stolzoff. Despite already being warned about the Cardassian soldiers, she doesn't take the situation very seriously.
- Variant Chess: Kotra, a Cardassian version. Nog's playing style is too conservative for Garak's taste. Based on what little we see of it, it seems like a cross between chess and Go.
- Worthy Opponent: Garak displays a significant amount of respect for O'Brien's service during the Federation-Cardassian war, even wanting to face off against him in a Cardassian board game revolving around strategy and risk.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: O'Brien is clearly not happy about Garak praising his actions at Setlik III even before Garak falls under the effects of the psychotropic.
