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MELORA >
Synopsis
Episode Synopsis
by
Tracy Hemenover
Bashir tells his medical log that he has been working overtime
to prepare for the arrival of a new stellar cartographer --
Ensign Melora Pazlar, who is Elaysian, and the first of her
people to join Starfleet. Bashir has created a wheelchair for
her, from specifications which she sent, since the station's
Cardassian construction isn't compatible with her normal
antigrav unit. O'Brien has been working to make at least some
of the station compatible with the wheelchair, adding ramps in
many areas. Ensign Pazlar comes from a planet with low surface
gravity, and has limited mobility in "normal" gravity.
As they head for the airlock to meet the new crewmember, Dax
wonders why they can't use the transporter to help her get
around, but the ensign has indicated that that is not
acceptable. Bashir, who feels as if he knows her already, says
that she was that way in the Academy as well. "Once her basic
needs are met, she refuses any special assistance. She's
extraordinary." Ensign Pazlar's quarters have also been
modified to allow her to turn off the gravity there.
They meet Melora at the airlock, wearing a robotic body brace
and leaning on a wooden cane, moving with effort. She is
brusquely polite as she returns Dax and Bashir's greetings and
accepts the wheelchair, which she is not pleased to find has
been modified from her design. There is an upcoming Gamma
Quadrant runabout mission which she wants to undertake alone,
but Sisko has assigned Dax to accompany her. "I'm sure he
thought what every officer I've ever served with has thought,
that I need extra help to get the job done. Please tell him I
don't." Dax says Sisko wouldn't let any ensign take a runabout
into the Gamma Quadrant alone the day after she arrives. When
they reach her quarters, Melora says it's been a pleasure
meeting them, and rolls in without another word, the door
closing behind her.
In the bar, Quark is showing a ring to an alien named Ashrock.
The ring is one of forty-two that Quark has in his possession;
just over half of the eighty created by an artist named
Paltriss, who was from Ashrock's homeworld. Ashrock says he
wants to return the rings to Paltriss' birthplace, but Quark
wants 199 bars of gold-pressed latinum for them. Just then,
another alien enters, and Quark becomes extremely nervous when
he recognizes him: Fallit Kot, whom he hasn't seen for eight
years. Ominously, Kot tells the Ferengi, "I've come to kill
you, Quark."
Sisko, Dax, and Bashir are discussing Melora's request to
pilot the runabout alone when Melora arrives. She puts them on
the defensive, wondering wouldn't it have been more
appropriate to have included her in the conversation, but
Sisko says that he was simply getting a briefing from his
officers. "I'm sorry if I seem overly sensitive," says Melora.
"But I'm used to being shut out of the Melora problem. The
truth is there is no Melora problem, until people create one."
She continues to be politely aggressive as she argues her
case, and says she objects to being treated as if she's ill.
Sisko says he doesn't see anyone doing that. "Try sitting in
the chair, Commander," Melora replies. "No one can understand
until they sit in the chair." She prefers working alone; it's
easier for her. But Sisko is firm, and Melora knows better
than to argue further. She acknowledges and leaves, slowly.
Bashir pays her a visit in her quarters later. Seeing a photo
on her desk of her midair with a young man, he asks if the man
is her husband or boyfriend; Melora ignores the question and
says she apologizes, and that her speech was not meant to
attack him personally. "I'm sure you never set out to attack
anyone personally," says Bashir. "But you do seem to attack a
lot." She observes that he must have decided she needs a
friend, and he asks if that was another attack. It must be her
way of keeping the rest of the universe on the defensive.
Bashir says he was thinking of asking her out to dinner.
Melora instinctively lashes out: "Then afterwards we'll go
dancing, I suppose." "Ooh, red alert," says Bashir. Disarmed,
Melora finally agrees to go to the Klingon restaurant with
him.
Quark makes an attempt to mollify -- er, satisfy -- Kot with a
fancy dinner and a couple of Dabo girls. Kot silently pours
the soup onto the floor, but eats the jumbo Vulcan mollusks.
Quark proposes a toast "to old friends", and Kot finally
speaks. "Old debts," he corrects, looking Quark straight in
the eye.
At the Klingon restaurant, Melora surprises both Bashir and
the chef when she complains in Klingon about the racht (worms)
-- not because they're worms but because they're half-dead.
The chef laughs and replaces them. As they eat, Bashir tells
Melora about when he was ten and his father was a Federation
diplomat on Invernia II. They were caught in an ionic storm
along with an ill native girl, who died because they didn't
know that a nearby herb could have saved her. Bashir also
speaks about his aborted tennis career, and Melora admits
she's had a good time with him.
The next morning, Dax appears at Melora's quarters, but she's
not there. Dax finally finds her in an unmodified corridor
near a storage bay, where she has fallen and was unable to get
up. As Dax helps her back into her chair, Melora explains that
she had come down here to get an extra astrometric array, had
to leave her chair, and tripped on the lip of the door. Dax
takes her to the infirmary, where Bashir checks her out, and
asks why she didn't wait for Dax. Melora feels humiliated, and
angry at herself for not paying attention to her environment.
Bashir tells her that no one here is completely independent,
and Melora says she just wants them to know they can depend on
her. Bashir says she's proven that, but what does everybody
else have to do to convince her that she can depend on them?
He takes her back to her quarters, mentioning some work done
by Nathaniel Teros 30 years ago on neuromuscular adaptation
for low-gravity species. It had no practical success back
then, but there has been a lot of progress since then in
neurochemistry. Theoretically Melora could one day have no
more need for her chair. At her quarters, she invites him in,
and turns off the gravity. Bashir is delighted to watch her
soar into the air, flying with grace and ease. Then he tries
it, and after an awkward start, finds himself flying too, with
her steadying him. He admits that he was curious about this,
and Melora says most people are. "Sometimes they make me feel
like a carnival attraction. So, usually, I prefer to keep
everyone out." "Thank you, for letting me in," Bashir replies.
Melora tells him that the man in the picture is her brother,
and Bashir kisses her. They continue to kiss, floating gently
in the air.
The next day, Melora finally makes it out into the Gamma
Quadrant with Dax, and asks the Trill if she thinks there's
room for romance in Starfleet. Dax thinks so, and asks slyly
if Bashir's "bedside manner" has won her over. Melora can't
help but be a little concerned because of the differences in
their species. Dax tells her about a hydrogen-breathing Lothra
she knew who had a 57-year romance with an oxygene despite
being able to spend only forty minutes a day together without
breathing assistance. But there are career conflicts to
consider as well. Melora is only on temporary assignment to
DS9, and a subspace romance is so lacking in intimacy. "Look
at the alternative," says Dax.
Quark comes into Odo's office to tell him about Fallit Kot.
Odo already knows that Kot just finished eight years in a
labor camp for hijacking a shipment of Romulan ale. He also
knows that Quark's name appears next to Kot's in the original
indictment. Quark claims he was only the middleman, and Odo
guesses accurately that the only reason Quark avoided serving
time himself was that he sold out his partner. Quark tells him
that Kot has threatened to kill him, and Odo smiles at the
thought, before assuring Quark that he'll do his job.
"Unfortunately," he adds to himself after Quark leaves.
Melora enters the infirmary, where Bashir has something to
show her. He has been working on modifying Teros' theories to
turn them into a reality. And it looks as if it can actually
work this time.
Odo has a deputy bring Kot in to have a word with him, and
tells Kot point blank that while he doesn't like Quark either,
he can't let him kill the Ferengi. Kot pretends innocence.
"Let bygones be bygones, I always say," he claims. Odo notes
that Kot walks like a man with a lot of weight on his
shoulders; Kot says it must be the memory of the Romulan
bricks he carried for eight years -- but Odo can't lock him up
for the way he walks. He leaves, and as Odo comes out of his
office to watch him go, Quark comes up. Odo tells him he has
no legal reason to hold Kot, although he will watch him, and
gives Quark a combadge to call him at the first sign of
trouble. "What if the first sign is the last sign?" asks
Quark. Since Ferengi sell pieces of themselves after they die,
Odo says he'll buy one.
Bashir gives Melora her first treatment, and slowly she is
finally able to raise her leg. She should be walking within
the hour, he tells her. Later, she walks into Ops to give
Sisko the mission summary, using only her cane for light
support. When the treatment begins to wear off, she sags
against Bashir, who supports her to her quarters again. There,
however, he warns her against turning off the gravity, as it
would confuse her motor cortex. She starts to thank him, but
he silences her. "You let me fly for the first time, I let you
walk. We're even." But as Bashir leaves, Melora realizes how
much she misses flying.
Quark enters his quarters to find the lights are out.
Realizing that he's in danger, he tries to use the combadge,
but Kot covers his mouth and throws the badge away,
transferring his grip to Quark's throat. Attempting to
negotiate for his life, Quark offers 199 bars of gold-pressed
latinum. Kot's interest is piqued. "It's a start," he says.
As Bashir completes another treatment on her, Melora asks when
the process becomes irreversible. He senses she's having
second thoughts, and she admits that last night she didn't
feel like herself. Bashir tells her she can't go back and
forth; it might affect her ability to perform complex tasks.
But the effect is reversible for a few more days; after that
her motor cortex impulses will kick in permanently.
Melora struggles with her decision while in the runabout again
with Dax. The adaptation would mean real independence for her,
but it would also mean she can't return home for more than
short visits. Her dilemma reminds Dax of the story of the
Little Mermaid, who trades her life under the sea for a pair
of legs to walk on land. Melora asks if she lived happily ever
after, and Dax's silence is the answer.
Ashrock returns to DS9 with the money to purchase the rings,
and is met at the airlock by Quark and Kot, who takes the
latinum. The transaction is completed, but Kot then aims a
phaser at Ashrock, who thinks he's been set up, and starts to
pull his own phaser. Kot shoots him, setting off alarms, and
causing Odo to send security to the area. Kot fights off the
deputies and drags Quark to another airlock, which happens to
be the one through which Dax and Melora are boarding the
station after their mission. (Melora is on full robotic
support again.)
Kot forces them back onto the runabout along with Quark, and
makes Dax start the ship again. Bashir arrives in Ops as Sisko
orders the tractor beam engaged. Kot tells him to release the
ship or he'll kill a hostage. Sisko says he's willing to
negotiate, if Kot releases them, and Kot arbitrarily shoots
Melora, whose controls overload as she collapses onto the
floor. The transmission ends. Sisko has Kira beam him, Bashir,
and O'Brien to the Rio Grande, then disengage the tractor
beam.
The hijacked runabout goes through the wormhole, followed by
the other one. Melora begins to move as Kot orders Dax to go
to warp; Dax argues that they can't do that without setting a
course. Kot says fine, set a course. Behind him, Melora is
dragging herself along the floor. Kot orders Dax to shoot the
other runabout, but Dax refuses, despite Kot's threats.
Suddenly seeing Melora's movement, Dax keeps Kot distracted
while Melora reaches a panel and removes it. Finally she
switches off the gravity, and Dax disengages the warp drive.
Melora brings Kot down with a flying tackle, and the crisis is
over. Bashir and Sisko beam over to find Quark holding the
phaser on Kot.
Back once more on DS9, in the Klingon restaurant, Melora
wonders why the phaser didn't kill her, and Bashir surmises
that it may have been the neurostimulants, possibly a side
effect of the treatment that may be worth exploring. But
Melora tells him she has decided against further treatments.
Bashir, a bit disappointed, says she can always try it again
someday. Melora doesn't think she will. "I might be more
independent, but I wouldn't be Elaysian anymore. I'm not sure
what I'd be. Besides, maybe independence isn't all it's
cracked up to be. I kind of like how it feels to be dependent
on someone for a change. And I'm glad you got me to unlock the
doors to my quarters so I could finally let someone into my
life." Bashir smiles. "So am I." They sit there listening as
the chef launches into a Klingon love song.
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