1:[2,#b],3:[3,#i]@1“The Nagus”@2Deep Space Nine episode #11
Teleplay by Ira Steven Behr
Story by David Livingston
Directed by David Livingston
No stardate given
First aired in 1993
GUEST STARS
Rom MAX GRODENCHIK
Krax LOU WAGNER
Nava BARRY GORDON
Gral LEE ARENBERG
Nog ARON EISENBERG
Maihar’du TINY RON
Zek WALLACE SHAWN
Quark is suddenly named leader of the Ferengi financial empire, and discovers that he’s not only popular – he’s now a target for death.
It’s business as usual for Quark at his bar, until he is approached by a Ferengi named Krax, who presents his father, Grand Nagus Zek, the elderly, shrewd, revered leader of the Ferengi business empire, accompanied by his Hupyrian servant, Maihar’du. Quark and his brother Rom, held by both awe and fear, try quickly to show Zek the respect he deserves, and set him up with five of Quark’s favorite Holosuite fantasies. However, Quark is worried that the legendary Ferengi is really on the station to buy the establishment – at a price which Quark can’t refuse – dirt cheap. Zek then emerges from the Holosuite, quite satisfied, and makes Quark invite him to dinner. Quark is quite unsatisfied with this.
Meanwhile, O’Brien, playing substitute teacher at the station’s school until his wife returns from Earth, takes note of Nog’s falsehood as to why his homework isn’t done – and even more so, Jake’s reluctant willingness to cover for his Ferengi friend’s lie. He voices his concern to Sisko, advising him to find a way to separate the two children. Sisko understands, but also fears that trying to force them apart will ultimately work against his relationship with his son.
That evening, in Quark’s quarters, Zek, Krax, and Rom are in the midst of dinner, with Maihar’du and Nog performing the serving duties. Zek states how pleased he is with the success of the station’s bar, which worries Quark even more. But Zek is enraged when he learns that Nog attends school, upon which Rom tells his son to immediately stop going. That dealt with, Zek gets to the business at hand – he wants the bar, but only for the next day, with Quark playing host to a very important conference to be held there. The purpose – the future of the Ferengi. And the future lies – in the Gamma Quadrant.
Many important Ferengi arrive at the station for the conference, including a very belligerent one named Gral, who does little to hide his dislike for Krax. Much to Quark’s surprise, Zek demands that he stay for the discussion. Then, much to everyone’s surprise, Zek announces that he is stepping down as Grand Nagus, and that the Ferengi who will replace him, who will lead their greedy ventures into the Gamma Quadrant – is Quark! The conference erupts into chaos, and Quark stands in shock.
With great power comes many friends, Grand Nagus Quark quickly discovers. Also, potential threats, as he learns from an encounter with Gral, who offers to “protect” Quark from harm – in exchange for Gral’s pick of the most lucrative opportunities in the Gamma Quadrant – a trade that Quark would be wise not to refuse. Terrified, he goes to Zek, who basically tells him that threats come with the job. Then, while Quark is asking more advice, Zek quietly passes away, leaving the new Grand Nagus to figure it all out for himself. The bar is closed to honor Zek’s passing, and the Ferengi group holds the funeral service there. Quark makes Rom, the only person he trusts, his bodyguard. However, Rom says that he hoped to now run the bar, which Quark thinks is absolutely absurd. During the proceedings, Nog meets secretly with Jake, and they decide to remain friends despite their parents’ feelings.
Odo comes to the funeral ceremony, asking to have the body autopsied, which he learns is impossible because Krax is selling the “vacuum desiccated” remains as prized collectibles. Odo leaves, treating Quark with the same old disrespect as he departs. Suddenly, while Quark stoops down to pick up someone’s loose coin, a glowing sphere whizzes by, barely missing his head, and blasting a hole in the far wall. Sisko, Odo, and O’Brien investigate, determining it was a Ferengi locator bomb – meant for Quark. But the new Grand Nagus refuses their help. Odo, however, suspects the culprit is Maihar’du, the only one among the group who didn’t attend the funeral. Meanwhile, Quark’s generosity with fellow Ferengi causes his popularity to increase, and worry to rise with the real would-be assassins – Rom and Krax!
Sisko becomes frustrated when Jake doesn’t return home for dinner as he was instructed. On the advice of Dax, he sets out for one of the cargo bays, where the computer has located Jake. Walking in quietly, he is surprised to discover Jake with Nog, with Jake patiently teaching the young Ferengi boy how to read.
At the same time, while Quark prepares for his first trip through the wormhole, Rom asks him again if Quark is willing to turn the bar over to him, to which Quark still refuses. As far as Rom is concerned, that seals his brother’s fate. He and Krax escort the Grand Nagus into an airlock tunnel, where a Ferengi ship supposedly awaits. But Quark, now sealed in the tunnel alone, sees that the only thing on the other side is empty space. Just as Rom and Krax are about to eject him into the cosmos, Zek arrives with Odo and Maihar’du. While Quark is freed, Zek explains that he faked death by going into a Hupyrian sleeping trance. The reason – to test his son and his worthiness to be Zek’s successor – a test Krax failed miserably. Zek, resigned to the fact that he cannot yet retire, thanks Quark for his help and departs. Quark, on the other hand, deals with Rom for trying to murder him – and congratulates his brother for such wonderful treachery! Rom is a true Ferengi, after all.
~1:[2,#B],3:[3,#I]@1“Necessary Evil”@2Deep Space Nine episode #28
Written by Peter Allan Fields
Directed by James L. Conway
Stardate 47282.5
First aired in 1993
GUEST STARS
Pallra KATHERINE MOFFAT
Rom MAX GRODENCHIK
Gul Dukat MARC ALAIMO
An attack on Quark’s life brings Odo face to face with a five-year-old unsolved murder – for which Kira was a prime suspect.
A beautiful Bajoran woman, Pallra, calls Quark to Bajor and persuades him to retrieve a strongbox her late husband kept hidden on Deep Space Nine. He agrees, unaware that a stranger named Trazko has observed their entire interaction, with Pallra’s knowledge. Later that night, Quark and Rom sneak around the Promenade until they find the hidden panel that conceals the strongbox. Quark opens the box and sees that it only contains a list of Bajoran names. Suddenly, Trazko appears, and Quark realizes that Pallra probably sent him. Trazko takes the list from Quark and shoots him with a phaser, apparently killing him and leaving a panic-stricken Rom shouting for help.
While Bashir works frantically to save Quark, Odo questions Rom about the robbery and attack. Rom denies knowing what Trazko took from Quark, but when Odo accuses him of killing his brother, he tells him about the list. When Rom tells Odo the box was found on the site where the station’s old chemist’s shop used to be, Odo flashes back to a conversation he had with Gul Dukat five years earlier. The owner of the shop, Vaatrick, was murdered, and Dukat essentially forced Odo to investigate the killing. Odo questioned the dead man’s widow, Pallra, about her husband’s death, but while he was suspicious of her, she said her husband’s alleged mistress probably killed him in a jealous rage. That mistress, she said, was Kira Nerys. Odo then comes out of the flashback and realizes that the attack on Quark could be related to this still-unsolved murder.
Odo tries to help Rom remember the names on the list. Rom can only remember one, which he thinks is Ches’so, and Odo then asks Kira if she knows the name. Kira says she does not, and Odo has another flashback to the time he interrogated Kira about Vaatrick. Kira denied the murder and the alleged affair, saying only that she and Vaatrick were friends. Later, Odo became even more suspicious when he spotted Dukat and Pallra kissing. This feeling remains after his flashback ends, sending Odo to Bajor to question Pallra about the list of names. She denies knowing anything about it, and says she does not recognize the name Ches’so. Odo then asks her how she found the money to pay her power bill, telling her that he knows her power had been cut off for non-payment. Pallra says a friend gave her the money but refuses to identify him.
While Quark continues to fight for his life, Kira tells Odo that she located Ches’so, whose real name is Ches’sarro, but that he drowned mysteriously the previous evening. Sure that Pallra is somehow involved, Odo orders a full examination of the man’s death as well as an investigation into Pallra’s bank records. Odo then has another flashback to when he first met Quark, remembering that Quark told Odo that Kira paid him to say she was at the bar the night Vaatrick was murdered. Sometime after the flashback ends, Odo shows Sisko the list of Bajoran names, which he compiled after looking through Pallra’s communication records. Since every man on the list apparently transferred Bajoran currency into her account, Odo realizes that Pallra has been blackmailing them by threatening to expose their collaboration with the Cardassians.
Odo then flashes back to a conversation he had with Kira in which he confronted her about paying Quark to be her alibi. Kira once again insisted that she did not kill Vaatrick, but admitted that she was a member of the Bajoran underground and had sabotaged the ore processor the night he was killed. Since the crime was punishable by death, Odo mentioned nothing of it when Dukat entered the room, and simply told the Cardassian that Kira was not their murderer. Back in the present, Trazko enters the infirmary with plans to finish Quark off, but Rom appears and the two begin fighting. The melee is loud enough to attract security, and Odo arrives to take Trazko to a holding cell. Later, Odo arrests Pallra for blackmail, despite the realization that Kira did kill Vaatrick that night five years ago – not because they had an affair, but because he was a Cardassian collaborator who caught her trying to steal the list. While he has no intention of prosecuting her and says they can remain friends, both Odo and Kira realize the bond of trust between them may be changed forever.
