06x11 - Waltz

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". Aired: January 3, 1993 – June 2, 1999.*
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A spin-off of `Star Trek: The Next Generation', `Deep Space Nine' is set on a space station orbiting the planet Bajor.
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06x11 - Waltz

Post by bunniefuu »

Captain's log,
stardate 51408.6.

I've been aboard the Honshu for two
days and I still haven't spoken to him,

although the doctors say
he has recovered.

Maybe that's what I'm afraid of.

Maybe I prefer to think of him
as a crazy man, a broken man.

He'd be less dangerous that way.

As terrible as it sounds,
a part of me wishes he were dead.

But that's a thought unworthy
of a Starfleet officer.

He lost an empire, he lost his daughter
and he nearly lost his mind.

Whatever his crimes, isn't that enough
punishment for one lifetime?

I heard you were aboard.

I was wondering
if you'd make an appearance.

How are you?

Better.

The doctors tell me
I've made a remarkable recovery.

They told me the same thing.

Good. I'd hate to think
they were patronising me.

- So I'm a w*r criminal.
- You're innocent till proven guilty.

So I'm told.

Do you believe I'm guilty, Benjamin?

I haven't seen all of the charges.

- It's not like you to equivocate.
- I'm trying to be fair.

You won't be tried until the w*r is over.

Your appearance before
the special jury is a formality.

And you'll be testifying
for the prosecution.

I will tell them what I know.

- Care to elaborate?
- Not really.

I see.

I never got a chance to tell you
how sorry I am about Ziyal.

Do I detect the fine hand
of Dr Cox at work once again?

I told him I wanted
to offer my condolences.

I'm sorry.

The good doctor encourages me
to talk about Ziyal whenever possible,

since it was her...

...death...

that brought on
my momentary instability.

I shouldn't be so suspicious.

It's all right.

Well...

we should be arriving at Starbase 621
by noon tomorrow.

I will see you at the arraignment.

Benjamin...

About my daughter.

You and Major Kira
took care of her for almost a year.

I wanted to thank you for that.
It was very generous.

Ziyal was a very special
young woman.

It was a pleasure to have her with us,

even if it was only a short time.

A short time is all she ever had.

Is there anything I can get for you?

A bottle of kanar and an Orion sl*ve girl
would be nice.

I'll see what I can do.

Battle stations. Damage control
teams report to level 5-J.

It's confirmed. U.S.S. Honshu was
destroyed this morning at 1030 hours

by an att*ck wing
of Cardassian destroyers.

Starfleet has picked up four distress
beacons so there are survivors.

The signals are coming from here.

The Honshu's last position was here,

so there could be survivors
in any of these adjacent star systems.

How many ships in the search party?

- Two.
- Two? It could take days.

With all the Dominion activity
it's all Starfleet can spare.

And the Defiant
has another appointment.

In 52 hours you need to be at this
rendezvous point outside the Badlands.

You are the escort
for a Federation troop convoy.

It will take 12 hours to get to
where the Honshu was destroyed.

And 12 more to reach the Badlands.
This convoy is unprotected.

They've been using
plasma fields to hide

and they'll be helpless
without the Defiant.

Can't they delay the convoy? We have
to give Captain Sisko a chance.

I raised the same objection myself
and the orders still stand.

Every minute spent here is one less
minute spent searching for the Captain.

Prepare for immediate departure.

Worf, there are over 30,000 Federation
troops in that convoy.

You have 52 hours,
not a second longer. Understood?

Understood.

Defiant.

Benjamin, can you hear me?

- Dukat?
- Yes.

Everything's all right
but don't move too quickly.

Your left side
is covered with plasma burns.

We were in the brig
and the ship went to Red Alert.

We were att*cked. By a wing
of Cardassian ships, ironically.

I was headed to engineering.

You didn't get very far.

A plasma conduit exploded before you
got 15 metres down the corridor.

That's where McConnell and I found
you when we had to abandon ship.

- Where's McConnell?
- Dead.

A piece of shrapnel hit him in the head

just as we were
carrying you into the shuttle.

- Any other survivors?
- I saw a few escape pods

leaving the ship just before it exploded,

but I had my hands full
just trying to keep us in one piece.

The engines were damaged
from the shock waves

and I set us down here,
wherever "here" is.

But that shuttle's
never going to reach orbit again.

The shuttle's distress
beacon was damaged.

But I think I managed to repair it.

So now all we have to do is wait
for someone to pick up our signal.

Whose signal are you transmitting?
Starfleet or the Dominion?

It's a general distress call, Benjamin.

Whoever gets here first will find one
comrade-in-arms and one prisoner.

That's fair, isn't it?

Fair enough.

Did you do this?

You shattered the bones in your arm.

There was a bone regenerator
in the medkit

but I'm not much of a doctor
so I just put on the cast.

You did plenty. Thank you.

We have enough field rations
to last us a few weeks

but I'd like to locate
another source of food and water.

The surface is inhospitable,
to say the least,

but I found some firewood and kindling

so there's a good chance
there's edible vegetation out there.

You could have left me behind.
Why didn't you?

I didn't want to.

I'll be back within the hour.

- What will you do with him?
- We have a lot to talk about.

- Such as?
- It's of a personal nature.

I see.

You're going to share your sorrow
with your long-time adversary.

- Dr Cox would be so proud.
- Go away.

k*ll him now while you still can.

That won't be necessary.
He's in no condition to challenge me.

- k*ll him.
- I don't care for your tone!

Spare me!
You're lucky I speak to you at all

after that pathetic display
back at the hospital.

- That's enough.
- I see. It's a sensitive topic.

I wonder what Sisko would think

if he'd seen you crying yourself
to sleep every night.

Stop it!

I doubt he'd have
the same respect for you

if he'd heard you screaming
and screaming like a madman

till the nurses came
and the doctors had to sedate you.

No!

Is that breakfast?

Possibly. Good morning.

Morning. What's it like outside?

The wind has d*ed down and the
temperature has gone up 20 degrees.

I like it but I think you'll be more
comfortable in here where it's cooler.

Too much.

- I'm doing the cooking here, thank you.
- Pardon me.

You're not the only officer
who learned how to cook.

- How are you feeling?
- A bit better.

Good. After last night
I was beginning to get worried.

Last night?

You don't remember?

I remember waking up
and I was feeling a little dizzy.

You had a bout of nausea.
Not exactly a little bout.

- I'm sorry.
- That's all right.

I've had to clean up a lot worse
in my time.

Once, when I was a newly minted glinn
on the Kornaire

I had to clean out a compartment

where three men had gone through
an expl*sive decompression.

I didn't sleep for a week after that.

Let's change the subject.

The Emissary has spoken.

Come on, Benjamin.

- Have a sense of humour about all this.
- I'm not in a joking mood.

That's a shame because
there's so much to laugh about.

You don't see it, do you?

Benjamin, just a few hours ago
I was a prisoner on my way to trial

and you were my dear old friend
come to visit me in my cell.

Now look at us. I'm free and you're
a prisoner of your own battered body.

And there's a good chance
we'll be rescued by the Dominion.

You must laugh at a universe that allows
such radical shifts in fortune.

I will laugh when a Federation starship
arrives and puts you back in a cell.

Whatever you say.

What?

Nothing.

It's probably just the wind.

- How is it?
- Needs salt.

There's probably some
in one of the ration packs.

You know... we didn't get much of
a chance to catch up before the att*ck.

How is everybody on

what I'm sure you're once again
calling Deep Space 9?

Odo and Kira? Quark?

They're all fine.

And, no, they don't miss you.

Perhaps not.

They never really did
give me much of a chance.

They were too busy
plotting my downfall.

Pepper.

If you want me to tell you
what you want to hear, just say so.

I hope they told you that my policies
toward the Bajorans were generous.

They said Weyoun
didn't give you much choice.

Major Kira knows full well
I made every effort

to heal the wounds
between Cardassia and Bajor.

It was my intention to rectify
the mistakes of the past

and begin a new chapter
in our relations.

Are you going to put that in my soup?

Well?

Better.

You're not going to give me
the benefit of the doubt, are you?

Do you really care what I think?

Don't you care what
your old friends think of you?

Dukat, we're not old friends.

You saved my life and I'm grateful
but that's as far as it goes.

Are you sure there's nothing out there?

It's just the wind. I'm certain.

But I'm going to double-check,
just to make sure.

No. I won't do it. Not yet.

- You're wasting time.
- It's my time to waste.

- Remember your place.
- I mean no disrespect.

But without you the w*r will be lost
and Cardassia will lie in ruins.

Don't let this one man
stand in the way of your final triumph.

I have to know that he respects me.
I think I've earned it.

Of course you have.

He's just denying you
the satisfaction of hearing him say it.

You know in your heart he secretly
admires you. Isn't that enough?

k*ll him and be done with it.

Think of it...
the leader of Cardassia

bringing the dead body of the Emissary
back to the Bajoran people.

They'll think the Prophets
have abandoned them.

The Shakaar government
will be overthrown

and the Federation position
on Terok Nor will become untenable.

Very tempting thought.

You've made
some good points, Damar,

but there will be time enough
for all of that later.

It's all right. I know you have
my best interests at heart.

I wanted to get
some water out of the kit.

- Here.
- Thanks.

Anything out there?

No. No, some rocks slid down the cliff.

I think something's wrong
with the com system.

It was beeping a second ago.

It might need recalibrating.

I'll check.

Everything's fine.
The unit's still on-line.

If you open it up
you'll be able to run a full diagnostic.

Better safe than sorry.

You're right.

Nothing to worry about.
It's working fine.

That's all I wanted to know.

Ship's log, supplemental.

We have picked up
12 Honshu survivors so far,

but not Captain Sisko.

We have less than 12 hours
before we must abandon the search.

Damn.

I'm picking up a distress signal.

Good evening.

- Pleasant dreams, I hope.
- I don't remember.

Is it still dark out?

I do apologise for bringing you
to such a gloomy latitude.

The nights seem to last 18 hours,
the days less than five. Sit up.

You're planning a long stay?

No, not at all. Someone's bound
to pick up our signal any time now.

But I see no reason why we shouldn't
be comfortable in the meantime.

- How's that?
- That's just fine, thank you.

Good.

Much better, hm?

You know, when I was out there
in the shuttle just now

it occurred to me that the Bajorans
would be very confused

if they could see us here, sharing
the same food, the same hardships.

What would they say if they knew

the Emissary of the Prophets
and the evil Gul Dukat

were sitting here, together,

getting along just like the two old friends
they really are?

Oh. I forgot.

You don't think of me as your old friend,
do you, Benjamin?

It's all right. There's no one here.
Just the two of us.

No one to impress.
No one to judge what you say.

We can be honest with each other.

So tell me...
what do you really think of me?

I'll tell you what I think.

You're an evil, sadistic man

who should have been tried
as a w*r criminal years ago,

put up against a wall and sh*t.

You probably agree with Major Kira,
don't you, Benjamin?

I am the former Prefect of Bajor,

an evil man who sent thousands
of Bajorans to their deaths

to satisfy his own sadistic desires.

Of course he agrees with me.
And it was millions.

- There's no point in discussing this.
- There is.

My name and reputation
have been slandered and twisted

ever since the end
of the occupation of Bajor.

I have been vilified...

by ignorant, small-minded people
throughout the quadrant

for the past six years.

I just want to know
if you're one of them, Benjamin.

I wasn't there during the occupation.

I didn't see all the things
you had to struggle with day after day.

- I can't pass judgment.
- He just doesn't want to anger you.

He really thinks you're
a cold-blooded k*ller and so do I.

I don't care what you think,

so I suggest you keep your opinions
to yourself.

I don't think you're being entirely honest
with me, Benjamin.

You don't hesitate to make shap
judgments when the situation calls for it.

It's one of the signs
of a good commander.

Now I'm asking for your opinion of me,

and I find it hard to believe
you don't have one.

All right. I think you're right.

You have been judged unfairly.

I've judged you unfairly.

I think you probably had good reasons
for everything you did on Bajor.

Yes. That's it, exactly.

I had good reasons.

Some of the harsher actions I took

were forced on me
by Central Command.

I wanted to use entirely different tactics
with the Bajorans.

I wanted to rule with a softer hand.

But my superiors didn't see it that way.

You had to carry out your orders.

Precisely.

You are such a fool!

Leave us alone!
This doesn't concern you!

He's patronising you.

"You had to carry out your orders."

He doesn't believe that
any more than I do.

- This is growing tiresome.
- Dukat.

- Dukat! You wanted to talk to me.
- Yes!

But Nerys won't leave
well enough alone.

She's always interfering,
always trying to upset me!

Maybe we should just ignore her.

Let's pretend that
the Major's not even here.

- There are two humanoid life-forms.
- Bridge to transporter room.

There's no reason to get upset.
We're just talking.

Two old soldiers talking
around the campfire.

I'm going to enjoy watching this.
He's going to b*at you.

He's going to escape
and go back to DS9 and his friends

and we're all going to have a good,
long laugh at your expense.

Enough!

I've locked onto them.

Transporter room to bridge.

We have the survivors on board.
Two women.

An ensign and a lieutenant.
Dr Bashir is checking them now.

That must have been very
uncomfortable, Benjamin.

Look at that.

One of the tines is missing.
How did that happen?

Did you break it off?

But why would you want
a small, thin piece of met...

Unless you needed a tool.

I see you've been busy.

A little repair work while I was gone.

Very thoughtful.

Worf!

What is it?

I picked up another distress signal
but it's gone.

You know, I thought we had
established a level of trust between us,

but I was wrong.

If there's one thing I can't abide,
it's betrayal.

Our efforts have been delayed.
We need a few more hours.

The troop convoy will be completely
unprotected... when they... the plasma...

...strict radio silence.

...they can acknowledge
our signal even if...

...sorry, Worf,
but you're going to have...

I'm sorry, Captain.

There's some kind of
subspace interference. I'll keep trying.

I couldn't understand a word Kira said.
Too much interference.

Looks to me like we're on our own.

I could understand her.

What about you, Chief?

No, I couldn't understand a word.

It doesn't really matter what we think.
Commander Worf is captain.

We all know what the orders were.
It would dishonourable to ignore them.

You will forgive me

if I don't consider your honour
to be worth Captain Sisko's life.

You may leave the bridge, Doctor.

- Set a course for the third planet.
- Aye, Captain.

You brought it on yourself, you know.

Just like all your victims.

All my victims.

It always comes back to that, doesn't it?
All my crimes.

I'm such a monster, such an evil man.

Behold Benjamin Sisko...

supreme arbiter
of right and wrong in the universe.

A man of such high moral calibre

that he can sit in judgment
on all the rest of us.

What the hell do you want from me?
My approval?

Is that what this is all about?

You want me to give you my permission
to cause more suffering and death?

If that's what you want,
you might as well end this right now

because I will never give it to you!

Good! I like this.
No more pretence. No games.

Just you, me and the truth.

You bend the truth into
whatever shape suits you.

Judge Sisko
hands down another ruling.

But where's his evidence?

All right. You really want to do this?

- Here? Now?
- Yes!

OK. Let's do it! You were
Prefect of Bajor during the occupation.

- True or false?
- True.

You were responsible
for your command.

- True or false?
- True.

So you are responsible for the m*rder
of five million Bajorans. True or false?

False. I tried to save lives
during my administration.

- Evidence?
- Evidence! He wants evidence.

By the time I became Prefect, the
occupation had gone on for 40 years.

But the planet still wasn't ready
for colonisation.

Central Command
wanted the situation resolved

and they didn't care how it was done.

I was convinced that a gentler hand
was required to deal with the Bajorans.

It was a noble, if misguided vision.

So in my first official act as Prefect,

I ordered all labour camp commanders

to reduce their output quotas by 50%.

Then I reorganised the camps
themselves.

Child labour was abolished.
Medical care was improved.

Food rations were increased.

At the end of one month
of my administration,

the death rate had dropped by 20%.

Now, how did the Bajorans
react to all this?

On my one-month anniversary,
they blew up an orbital dry dock,

k*lling over 200 Cardassian
soldiers and workers.

We didn't want a reconciliation.
We wanted to destroy you.

So I had to order a response.

But even then it was
a carefully-tempered one.

I ordered 200 suspected members
of the resistance

rounded up and ex*cuted.

200 lives for 200 lives.

That's justice, not malevolence. Justice.

The Dominion
wouldn't have been so generous.

But did I give up my efforts
to reach out to the Bajorans?

No. I tried again.

And what did I get for my troubles?

An assassination attempt
on my own station.

Another round of executions followed,

once again,
courtesy of the Bajoran resistance.

We never wanted peace.
We hated you. We hated all of you.

On and on it went,
year after blood-soaked year.

Time and again, I would reach out
with an open hand of friendship,

and time and again
they would slap it away.

The Bajorans understand
a clenched fist, not an open hand.

Being reasonable made us bolder.

The Dominion would have k*lled
every man, woman and child on Bajor.

I hope you're listening to all this.

Believe me,
you have my undivided attention.

Now, let me get this straight.

You're not responsible
for what happened, the Bajorans are?

Yes. Yes! Exactly.

So why do you think
they didn't appreciate

this rare opportunity
you were offering them?

Because...
they were blind, ignorant fools.

If only they had cooperated with us,

we could have turned
their world into a paradise.

From the moment we arrived on Bajor

it was clear that
we were the superior race.

But they couldn't accept that.

They wanted to be treated as equals
when they most certainly were not.

Militarily, technologically, culturally.

We were almost a century
ahead of them in every way.

We did not choose to be the superior
race. Fate handed us that role.

It would have been
so much easier on everyone

if the Bajorans
had simply accepted their role.

But, no. Day after day

they clustered in their temples
and prayed for deliverance,

and night after night, they planted
bombs outside of our homes.

Pride.

Stubborn, unyielding pride.

From the servant girl
that cleaned my quarters

to the condemned man
toiling in a labour camp

to the t*rror1st skulking through the hills
of Dahkur Province.

They all wore their pride
like some twisted badge of honour.

And you hated them for it.

Of course I hated them!
I hated everything about them!

Their superstitions
and their cries for sympathy,

their treachery and their lies,

their smug superiority
and their stiff-necked obstinacy,

their earrings
and their broken, wrinkled noses.

- You should have k*lled them all, hm?
- Yes! Yes!

That's right, isn't it?
I knew it. I've always known it.

I should have k*lled
every last one of them.

I should have turned their planet
into a graveyard

the likes of which
the galaxy had never seen!

I should have k*lled them all.

And that is why you're not an evil man.

Do it!

I'm so glad we had this time together,
Benjamin.

We won't be seeing
each other for a while.

I have unfinished business on Bajor.

They don't know what it is
to be my enemy, but they will.

From this day forward, Bajor is dead!

All of Bajor!

And this time, even their Emissary
won't be able to save them!

It's time.

Plot a course out of the system.
Full impulse.

Once we've cleared the outer planets

head for the rendezvous coordinates,
maximum warp.

Course laid in.
Engaging impulse engines.

Captain, I'm picking up a signal.

It's from Gul Dukat.

Ship's log, stardate 51413.6.

We have rescued Captain Sisko but
we could not locate Gul Dukat's shuttle.

We are en route to our rendezvous
with the convoy near the Badlands

and the Captain is recovering
in sick bay.

Benjamin?

I've notified Starfleet
of Dukat's last known position.

- They'll find him.
- No, they won't.

You know, old man,
sometimes life seems so complicated.

Nothing is truly good or truly evil.

Everything seems to be
a shade of grey.

And then you spend some time
with a man like Dukat

and you realise
that there is such a thing as truly evil.

To realise that is one thing.

To do something about it is another.

- So what are you going to do?
- I'll tell you what I'm not going to do.

I'm not going to let him destroy Bajor.

I fear no evil.

From now on, it's him... or me.
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