TREKCORE > DS9 > EPISODES > THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS > Synopsis

Episode Synopsis by Tracy Hemenover

Sisko deals with a little matter regarding Odo having caught Quark and Morn painting numbers on the backs of voles in preparation for a vole fight. Having had enough of this, he is about to go off duty when O'Brien enters in civilian clothing. After Odo and Quark leave, O'Brien whips out a phaser and forces Sisko to the transporter pad. They beam out together, and Sisko finds himself on a ship. O'Brien tells him, "I guess you could say we just stepped through the looking glass."

Sisko manages to get the phaser away from him, but O'Brien says it doesn't change anything. Sisko can't go home unless O'Brien reconfigures the transporter. He updates Sisko on events in the mirror universe: the Terrans have started a rebellion against the Alliance. Sisko's counterpart was its leader until he was killed when the Cardassians blew up his ship. Now O'Brien wants the other Sisko to take his place, just to finish the mission he was on.

At first Sisko refuses, but then he finally agrees to hear O'Brien out. A Terran scientist working for the Alliance is close to completing a transpectral sensor array that will help the Alliance locate rebel bases in the Badlands; the mirror Sisko hoped to convert this scientist to the rebels' side instead, because she was his wife. O'Brien shows Sisko a picture of the scientist. It's the mirror counterpart of Sisko's late wife, Jennifer. Unless Sisko can convince her to join the rebels, they will kill her to stop her from completing the array. "I can't let her die," decides Sisko. "Not again."

On Terok Nor, in response to a summons, Jennifer Sisko comes to see Intendant Kira, who tells her that her husband is dead. "Can I go now?" asks Jennifer, betraying no emotion. "You must have loved him very much to be so angry with him," observes the Intendant. Jennifer is more moved by the deaths of the other Terrans who were on the ship with him. She wants to help end the rebellion for the sake of stopping the deaths of her people.

O'Brien tells Sisko that Jennifer and his counterpart were estranged. "In some ways the rebellion's better off without him. Don't get me wrong, the captain knew how to fight, but that's about all he knew." He also tells Sisko to start calling him Smiley, which was what the other Sisko called him. There is unfortunately not much time to acquaint him with things before Sisko will have to meet with his counterpart's rebel crew.

The crew includes the mirror universe counterparts of Dax, Bashir, and Rom, as well as a Vulcan named Tuvok. Rom wants to launch an all-out assault on Terok Nor; Bashir favors a covert mission to blow it up; and Tuvok advocates caution. Sisko enters in the midst of the argument, much to the surprise of the rebels, and plays his part. Then Dax comes up to him and kisses him. "That's to let you know I missed you." She slaps him. "And that's for letting me think you were dead." Sisko grabs a moment to speak to O'Brien, who tells him that Dax is his mistress. Sisko then goes into the sleeping chamber with her, and for the sake of his cover (of course), lets things happen.

The Intendant and Garak take care of a bit of station business, involving random executions, and Garak observes that the Intendant's mood has been a bit ill-humored since she learned of Sisko's death. "I will say this for him," he says. "He did have spirit." "Too much spirit can be a dangerous thing," replies the Intendant. "It tends to infect others." Garak is certain that the rebellion will collapse, and the Intendant says she'll remember he said that, so that she'll have someone to blame if it continues.

Dax expresses a desire to simply chuck the rebellion and go live it up elsewhere. "It's not like you're going to have much choice. Once that witch you married finishes her new sensor array, Alliance ships are going to be all over these Badlands. We're going to have no place to hide." "Then I guess we'll just have to make sure she doesn't finish," says Sisko.

He holds a strategy session with his lieutenants. Bashir doesn't believe Sisko will be able to even get close enough to Terok Nor to speak to Jennifer. As he's talking, O'Brien urges Sisko to hit Bashir, which is what his counterpart would have done. Finally Sisko hauls off and decks Bashir. Dax draws her phaser. "Anyone else want to disagree with the captain?" Sisko tells her to put the phaser away. Bashir still says that they have to kill Jennifer; Dax agrees that that would be easier than trying to get her away from the Alliance. O'Brien argues that they could use a scientist on their side. He and Sisko carry the day, and they get to work on a plan.

Sometime later, Rom goes to Terok Nor and tells the Intendant and Garak that Sisko is alive. "But I can tell you how to get your hands on him. If you're interested."

Sisko and O'Brien head for Terok Nor in a raider, and discuss Jennifer a bit. From what O'Brien has heard, she is from a privileged family that cooperated with the Alliance. She separated from the other Sisko before O'Brien met him. O'Brien asks what the other Jennifer was like. "She was the kindest, most caring person I ever knew," says Sisko. "I wouldn't get my hopes up," advises O'Brien.

Then a Cardassian vessel and decloaking Klingon ships surround them. They are brought to Terok Nor, where the Intendant greets them. Sisko immediately gives her a big roguish kiss. She tells him she's still going to kill him. After gently berating O'Brien for his betrayal, she has him taken to ore processing. Garak asks what about Sisko, and Sisko says, "Take me to the Intendant's quarters, and she'll decide what to do with me." Kira agrees, ticking Garak off. Sisko will die when she says so, and not a moment sooner.

In her quarters, the Intendant tells Sisko that the only reason she can think of to let Sisko live is to infuriate Garak. In return, she wants Sisko's loyalty, but she says frankly that she doesn't think she'll be able to trust him again, meaning she'll have to kill him eventually. "The question is, should it be sooner, or later?" "Do I get a vote?" asks Sisko. "Of course you do," says the Intendant. "It just doesn't count." She will think about it.

Sisko is put in some guest quarters, where Garak brings Jennifer to see him. "All right, I'm here," she says coldly. "What did you want to see me about?" He says he was hoping they could talk. Jennifer isn't interested. She considers him insensitive, self-absorbed, and egotistical, and he certainly never cared about talking to her before. "Now this Rebellion of yours. Do you know how many deaths you've caused? How much destruction?" "I'm fighting to help free our people," he says. She tells him, "You're fighting because you like to fight, Benjamin. The only thing you've accomplished is to give the Alliance an excuse to treat the Terrans worse than before. I just hope that with your capture, the Rebellion can be ended peacefully." "Who said I'd been captured?" he asks. He tells her he's here to rescue her.

Sisko makes his case that her sensor array will destroy their people's hope of a better future. "You have no right to talk to me like that," Jennifer says. "Since when do you care about what happens to our people? You've never cared about anyone but yourself." "Maybe I've changed in the past few years," he tells her. "How many times have I heard you say that?" she counters bitterly. He apologizes for having been such a lousy husband, and she almost believes him for a moment. She wishes she'd never met him.

He tries another tack, wondering if she's working for the Alliance just for the sake of being on opposite sides with him. She insists that the Alliance is not her enemy. "That's where you're wrong," he tells her. "Don't you see, you're no different than the slaves working in the ore processing center. In fact, you may be even worse off. At least they know they're prisoners." That finally gets to her. He then broaches the subject of her coming with him to join the rebellion. She hesitates, and he tells her to think about it.

Sisko taps behind his ear to send a message to O'Brien through their subdermal communicators. O'Brien starts working on some circuitry inside a panel. When the Cardassian overseer questions what he's doing, O'Brien knocks him out. He then triggers an explosion; the doors open, and O'Brien shoots a Bajoran guard. The other workers overwhelm the last guard, and O'Brien tells anyone who wants to get out of here to come with him.

At the same time, Sisko overpowers a couple of Klingons in the corridor and gets their disruptors. He asks Jennifer for her decision. "Do I have a choice?" she asks. "Of course you do," he tells her. "If you want, you can go back to your quarters and forget we ever spoke." After a moment, she goes to his side, but informs him that she still hates him. "I know," he says, and they run off down the corridor.

They head for the airlock where the rebels' ship is waiting, but are pinned down by phaser fire from Cardassian soldiers. O'Brien arrives with his army of ex-slaves, and the Cardassians are killed. The problem, he says, is that there are thirty more behind him. They race for the airlock, and stop short, seeing Rom impaled against the airlock door, dead. "Something tells me that's not part of your plan," observes Jennifer.

The Intendant shows up with Garak and some more guards. "That was very clever, Benjamin, having one of your own men betray you so you could get aboard the station. I was completely fooled. Fortunately, Mr. Garak is somewhat more cynical than I am." Garak explains that Rom told them the entire plan, with some "persuasion". Sisko's ship is locked down, and the pilot is dead. Sisko and O'Brien consider their options; Jennifer says they could offer a trade: she stays here in exchange for their being allowed to live. "I came a long way to get you out of here, and I'm not going to leave without you," Sisko tells her. He has O'Brien take them to the ore processing center. The Intendant finally realizes they've gone, and her group leaves to track them.

Under fire, Sisko and the others reach the ore processing center, and O'Brien manages to seal the doors. Sisko then goes to work on a panel. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. I just hope your Terok Nor was designed by the same Cardassian that built my Terok Nor." The Intendant arrives outside the door and has a soldier use a manual override to open the door. "This time, Intendant, I trust you're not going to be so lenient on our dear Mr. Sisko," says Garak. "Don't worry," she says. "He's disappointed me for the last time." The Alliance troops enter the ore processing center to find Sisko and his group waiting for them.

"Jennifer," coos the Intendant. "I was so worried about you. But you're safe now. In fact, I can assure that you your husband will never annoy you again." "Actually," Jennifer replies, "for the first time since I've met him, he's not annoying me. In fact, he's making a lot of sense." The Intendant agrees that Sisko can be most persuasive. "I suppose this means you won't be finishing the sensor array." "I'm a Terran," Jennifer says. The Intendant orders her troops to keep Jennifer alive but kill the others.

But Sisko informs her that he has activated the station's self-destruct sequence; it is set to go off in nine minutes. The Intendant doesn't believe it; there's no way he could know the command access code. For answer, Sisko tells it to her. And hers doesn't work. "I changed it," he tells her. Now there are eight minutes and thirty seconds left. "Don't listen to him," says Garak. "He's bluffing."

"He's not bluffing," says the Intendant. She tells Sisko to give her the new access code and she'll let him go. Sisko replies that she'll get it once he and the others are safely away from the station. Defeated, the Intendant lets them leave. But she tells him, "This isn't over Benjamin. I will hunt you down. I swear it." "You're welcome to try," he replies.

Later, back in the rebel headquarters, Sisko finds Dax and Jennifer talking quite amicably. Dax exits; Jennifer faces Sisko, who says he's going to go see if the Romulans can be convinced to help them. "Jennifer, there's so much I want to tell you. I just don't know where to start." "Why don't you start by telling me what happened to my husband?" she asks, and Sisko realizes she's figured it out. "He's dead, isn't he?" She asks who he really is; Sisko tells her to talk to Smiley, who can fill her in on the details.

"Will I see you again?" she asks. "I don't know," he answers. She kisses him on the cheek, and thanks him for rescuing her. Then Sisko turns to O'Brien, who is waiting. "Take me home, Smiley."