TREKCORE > DS9 > EPISODES > THE MAQUIS, PART II > Synopsis

Episode Synopsis by Tracy Hemenover

Sisko studies his friend, Lt. Commander Calvin Hudson, who by his presence on this asteroid has revealed that he is a member of the Maquis. "You should've seen the look on your face when you saw me standing there," Hudson tells him, and Sisko replies, "I hardly recognized you without your uniform." Hudson takes the uniform out of a satchel and hands it to Sisko. "Well, it's been feeling a little tight lately." Sisko reminds him of when Hudson first put it on, the day they graduated from the Academy.

Now, though, Hudson has found something that for him is better than Starfleet. "These settlers, Ben -- if you saw all they have accomplished without any help from the Federation, then you'd fight along with them...They've traveled out here to the back of the beyond and built homes out of the wilderness. Maybe the Federation can turn their backs on them, but I can't." Sisko insists that he's not asking him to. "But your joining the Maquis isn't helping anyone. Your actions have only endangered the treaty, and put millions of lives at risk." To Hudson, though, the treaty is just a piece of paper. Sisko tells him he won't get any proof from Dukat that the Central Command has violated it. He asks where Dukat is; Hudson gives him a long look. "I never thought I'd see the day when you'd side with a Cardassian against me."

Sisko insists that he is trying to stop his friend from making the biggest mistake of his life. Starfleet will come after him and hunt him down, unless they can end the violence together. "The violence will never end as long as Central Command continues to smuggle weapons to their colonies," Hudson retorts, claiming that no one wants peace more than the Maquis. Sisko brings up the dead crewmembers of the Bok'Nor. When he proposes that they go to Cardassia to find evidence to back up Hudson's belief, Hudson says no. "The Federation abandoned us. Told us to take care of ourselves. Well, that's what we intend to do, Ben." He has a proposition of his own for Sisko: that the Maquis be allowed to use the station to maintain ships and store supplies. But Sisko refuses.

With genuine regret, Hudson tells Sisko, "I'm sorry we won't be working together, Benjamin. It would've been nice. Like old times." He stuns him, while his friends stun Kira and Bashir, and the Maquis leave.

When Sisko returns to DS9, Dax tells him Legate Parn will be here within the hour, and Admiral Necheyev is already here. Sisko has O'Brien retrace the Maquis' warp trail to see if they met any other ships in order to transfer Dukat over. Then he goes into his office to meet Necheyev, who tells him the Central Command has gone on military alert.

Necheyev suggests that Sisko might be better off with a Starfleet officer in charge of security, but Sisko expresses confidence in Odo, and assures her that they are working to locate Dukat. But there's a bigger issue -- the Maquis. "The Maquis are a bunch of irresponsible hotheads," Necheyev says. As far as she's concerned, the Federation should never have allowed the colonists to remain on the Cardassian side of the Demilitarized Zone. Sisko says they're there, and they're not leaving. Necheyev wonders what Hudson thinks of all this, and Sisko refrains from telling her of Hudson's defection. "I'll -- have to ask him."

Necheyev leaves after ordering Sisko to establish a dialogue with the Maquis. "Establish a dialogue? What the hell does she think I've been trying to do?" Sisko fumes to himself as Kira enters. "Just because a group of people belong to the Federation, it does not mean that they are saints...The trouble is Earth," he rants, blowing off steam. "On Earth, there is no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window of Starfleet Headquarters and you see paradise. Well, it's easy to be a saint in paradise. But the Maquis do not live in paradise. Out there in the Demilitarized Zone, all the problems haven't been solved yet. Out there, there are no saints, just people. Angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive, whether it meets with Federation approval or not." "Makes sense to me," says Kira, and Sisko calms down. "I'm glad someone understands." Kira suggests that he give that same speech to Legate Parn, whose ship just docked. But at that moment, Odo calls with the news that he's caught one of the Vulcan's accomplices.

Sisko goes to see Quark in a holding cell. The Ferengi protests that he had no idea Sakonna was planning to kidnap Dukat. Seeing that neither Sisko nor Odo is in a mood to listen to lies or excuses, Quark comes clean about the weapons he enabled Sakonna to buy. Sisko demands a complete list, and Quark offers to testify against Sakonna and anyone else who needs testifying against. Getting serious, however, he has one more piece of information. "Sakonna was on a tight clock. Whatever she needed those weapons for, it's going to happen within the next few days."

As Sisko starts to go, Odo expresses an interest in coming along to help search for Dukat, and Sisko agrees. Odo asks how long he should keep Quark in the cell; Sisko says, "Forever."

Sisko meets with Legate Parn, who is waiting for him with Kira. When Sisko tells the legate that they are doing all they can to find Dukat, Parn surprisingly says their efforts are appreciated but unnecessary. He claims Central Command has learned that Dukat was the leader of a small group of officers who were sending weapons to the Cardassian colonists, operating entirely without Central Command's knowledge. They've arrested the co-conspirators. As for Dukat, the Maquis can have him. It makes no difference if the Maquis kill him or Central Command does. "How do we know they won't use Dukat's death as an excuse to send troops into the Demilitarized Zone?" asks Kira. Parn gives Sisko his word that there will be no retaliation; Cardassia has no desire to go to war again with the Federation.

Sisko tells Parn he found their talk very enlightening, and the Legate leaves. Neither Sisko nor Kira believe a word he said. But now Sisko knows that the Central Command is definitely smuggling weapons into the Demilitarized Zone.

Amid Dax's report of escalating violence in the Demilitarized Zone, O'Brien says he was able to plot the course of the Maquis ship that took Dukat. There are no signs of any other vessels along the route, but they passed five Class M planets. Sisko has Odo and Bashir meet him at the runabout pad, but first, Kira wonders why they should risk their lives for Dukat, who is responsible for so many deaths. "The Central Command wants him dead," says Sisko. "That's reason enough for us to want him alive."

In a cavern on a small planet, Sakonna is trying to gather information from Dukat via a Vulcan mind meld, but it's not working; Dukat is shielding his thoughts. "You people really do not do this very well, do you?" he taunts. He claims the Maquis don't have the commitment or the strong stomachs to do what's necessary. Sakonna agrees that they do not have the Cardassian gift for torture; Amaros adds that they need to know where Central Command is sending the next weapons shipment.

Sisko, Odo, and Bashir arrive at that moment. Reluctant to shoot, Sisko tries to talk to the Maquis, but Dukat, impatient, starts a struggle, which leads into a firefight. When Amaros tries to flee, Odo whips out his arm and lassoes him. The Maquis are rounded up, except for Amaros, whom Sisko releases with a message: "Tell Cal Hudson I haven't told Starfleet anything yet. Tell him we can still solve this thing together, but we're running out of time. Tell him I still have his uniform. He can have it back anytime he wants."

Back in his guest quarters on DS9, Dukat is eating and recovering when Sisko drops by. The prisoners will be tried under the Federation code of justice, and if found innocent, they will be freed. "How barbaric," Dukat comments. "On Cardassia, the verdict is always known before the trial begins. And it's always the same." Sisko asks why bother with a trial, and Dukat explains, "Because the people demand it. They enjoy watching justice triumph over evil, every time. They find it comforting." There's no chance of trying an innocent man by mistake, he claims, because Cardassians don't make mistakes.

But there's one thing that puzzles Dukat: the fact that he was rescued by Sisko and not Central Command, and that the station was not surrounded by Cardassian ships demanding his return. Sisko says they did get a visit from Legate Parn. "He said that you were the one responsible for smuggling weapons into the Demilitarized Zone. That if the Maquis didn't execute you, the Central Command would. After a comforting trial, I'm sure." Dukat is stunned; it seems he is no longer in favor with his planet's leaders. And now he tends to believe that the Central Command really were smuggling weapons to the colonists, something they never bothered to tell him. Dukat suggests that he and Sisko work together to stop the smuggling, and the Maquis. Sisko agrees, and Dukat thanks him for the rescue. "I'm sure you would have done the same for me," Sisko says.

A briefing is held in Ops, with Dukat present. Odo reads off the list of weapons bought by Sakonna, but notes that he hasn't been able to get anything out of her yet. Dukat guesses that the Central Command is using a Xepolite free trader to smuggle the weapons. And so he, Sisko, Kira, and O'Brien go out in a runabout to find one. The Xepolite ship naturally doesn't respond to their hails; the runabout's scanners can't penetrate their hull, and their shields are up, preventing boarding. Finally, they fire a phaser across their bow, which gets their attention.

The captain claims to be carrying five kilotons of wheat husks, and denies Sisko's request to beam aboard and see what that looks like. Dukat, however, orders him to cooperate, and gives him fifteen seconds to lower his shields or be destroyed. The panicky Xepolite finally complies.

In the holding cell they are sharing, Quark reproaches Sakonna. "I hope you're happy." He suggests that she just tell Sisko what he wants to know. Quark goes on to say he knows the Cardassians can't be trusted, and the Central Command would love to destroy the Federation colonies in the Demilitarized Zone; but he believes the Maquis' position is illogical -- a word which gets Sakonna's attention. "You want to acquire peace. Fine. Peace is good. But how much are you willing to pay for it?" he asks. "Whatever it costs," says Sakonna, and Quark tells her peace can be bought at a bargain price right now. He spells it out for her. Since it's known now that the Central Command is smuggling weapons to their settlers, every ship approaching the Demilitarized Zone will be searched. With everyone armed, no one has a clear advantage. "So the price of peace is at an all-time low. This is the perfect time to sit down and hammer out an agreement. Don't you get it? Attacking the Cardassians now will only escalate the conflict and make peace more expensive in the long run. Now I ask you, is that logical?" Sakonna looks thoughtful.

Sometime later, Sisko gives Dukat the news: Sakonna has told him there is a concealed weapons depot located within a civilian population center, which the Maquis plan to attack within the next 52 hours. However, Sakonna said she didn't know which colony this was. Dukat says he can find out. Sisko, meanwhile, will go to Volan III to try to talk some sense into the Maquis.

A meeting is going on when Sisko enters, carrying a satchel, to give the Maquis a message. "There is a treaty currently in place between Cardassia and the Federation. If you make yourself an enemy of Cardassia, you'll make yourself an enemy of the Federation." He lets them know that he knows of the planned attack, and advises them to call it off. "Because I'll be waiting there. And I will stop you." Hudson enters then, with several armed Maquis, and says it was a rousing speech. "I suppose my best rebuttal would be to kill you." Sisko puts the satchel in front of Hudson; it contains his uniform.

"You always were an optimist," Hudson comments. Sisko says he has reason to be. Now that the shipments of Cardassian weapons have been stopped, there's no need for the Maquis any more. They can work together on a peace agreement with the Cardassian colonies. Hudson tells him it's too late for that; they're in a war here. Sisko warns him one more time that if the Maquis attack that depot, they'll have to get through him first. Hudson's answer is to fire his phaser at the satchel, disintegrating it.

Dukat's sources have informed him that the weapons depot is on Bryma. They will have to intercept the Maquis before they're picked up on the colony's sensors; otherwise, the colony will send for Cardassian reinforcements, and there will be a full-scale war. O'Brien suggests hiding sensor probes in the system's Oort cloud, and Odo notes that according to Sakonna, the Maquis only have two ships capable of mounting the weapons she bought. Sisko says they will try to talk first, and if that fails, shoot to disable. "How noble," Dukat comments. "I hope the Maquis will be as obliging to you."

With Sisko and Dukat in one runabout, Kira and Dax in another, and O'Brien and Bashir in the third, the officers go to the Bryma system and wait. Sisko is sure the Maquis will be here: the longer the wait, the more likely it is that the weapons depot will be moved. Finally, two Maquis ships are spotted by O'Brien. Sisko contacts Hudson to tell him to turn his ships back before someone gets hurt; Hudson says he was going to say the same thing to Sisko. "Please, Ben. Don't make me open fire on you." The Maquis begin evasive maneuvers, and the runabouts lock on with tractor beams.

Hudson fires on the tractor beam emitters, and reluctantly, Sisko gives the order to fire back. The battle continues, until finally Hudson's weapons array is damaged, and he turns to flee. Dukat urges Sisko to fire, but Sisko opens a channel one last time. "It's over, Cal." "For now, anyway," Hudson acknowledges. "Next time, tell Starfleet to send someone else. It doesn't feel right, you and I shooting at each other." He refuses to stand down. "You run now and I won't be able to protect you," Sisko says desperately. "...You're throwing away your entire life." "And beginning a new one," Hudson counters. "I'm going to miss you, Ben. You've been a good friend."

"So have you," Sisko says sadly, after Hudson cuts transmission. He then has to force Dukat away from the phaser controls. "I thought you were strong, Commander," Dukat says angrily. "You're not. You're a fool. A sentimental fool." "I said I'd stop the Maquis and I have," Sisko tells him. "But I will not kill a good man for defending his home." Dukat looks at him reproachfully. "You disappoint me." Sisko, however, is unmoved. "Don't expect me to lose any sleep over it."

Back in his office, with Dukat going back home, Sisko receives a communique from Starfleet, congratulating him for his good work, and thanking him for preserving the peace with the Cardassians. However, he tells Kira that he's not sure if he has prevented a war, or only delayed the inevitable.