DEEP SPACE NINE: "In the Pale... " - REV. 2/11/98 - ACT FIVE    52.

45   CONTINUED:	(2)

					GARAK 
			Oh, but I think there is. You 
			see, when the Tal Shiar finishes 
			examining the wreckage of 
			Vreenak's shuttle, they'll find 
			the burnt remnants of a Cardassian 
			optolythic data-rod which 
			miraculously survived the 
			explosion. After painstaking 
			forensic examination, they'll 
			discover that the rod contains a 
			recording of a high-level Dominion 
			meeting at which the invasion of 
			Romulus was being planned.

					SISKO
			And then they'll discover it's a 
			fraud.

					GARAK
			I don't think so. Any 
			imperfections in the forgery will 
			appear to be a result of the 
			explosion.
				(building, forceful) 
			So, with a seemingly legitimate 
			data-rod in one hand and a dead 
			senator in the other, I ask you 
			captain, what conclusion would you 
			draw?

	Sisko takes a beat, tries to let his temper subside.

					SISKO 
			That Vreenak obtained the rod on 
			Soukara and that the Dominion 
			killed him to prevent him from 
			returning to Romulus with it.

					GARAK
			Precisely. And the more the 
			Dominion protests their innocence, 
			the more the Romulans will believe 
			they're guilty... because it's 
			exactly what the Romulans would've 
			done in their place!

	Sisko glares at him, but it's clear that he sees the 
	logic of what Garak's saying, as much as he doesn't 
	like to hear it.