From: colby@pro-smof.cts.com (G Colby)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: DS9 synopsis: #721 "Emissary"
Date: 9 Jan 93 20:32:20 GMT
Article-I.D.: pro-smof.1993Jan9.143220.42536
Organization: The SMOF-BBS: Science Fiction Online Since 1985 [512-467-7317]

Greetings. This is my first attempt (of what I'm sure will be
many) at writing an episode's plot summary. I have no normal
access to the net; I have mail only, so I need to rely on the
kindness of others to get these posted. Also, DS9 airs late in
the broadcast week in my market (Austin, TX), so these summaries
will be later in hitting the net than Tim Lynch's normally do.
I'd like to point out that Tim has always done a super job in
posting summaries of TNG episodes; it was only when I learned
he cannot take the extra time required to write up the DS9 shows
that I decided to get off my duff and contribute in my own way.
After writing up the two hour pilot, I can appreciate what he
goes through with each new episode. Tim, my hat's off to you.

So here follows the first DS9 plot summary; I'll not do reviews.
Comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated at
colby@enterprise.win.net.

+++++ Episode 721: "Emissary" ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ON STARDATE 43997, CAPTAIN JEAN LUC PICARD OF THE FEDERATION
STARSHIP ENTERPRISE WAS KIDNAPPED FOR SIX DAYS BY AN INVADING
FORCE KNOWN AS THE BORG. SURGICALLY ALTERED, HE WAS FORCED TO
LEAD AN ASSAULT ON STARFLEET AT WOLF 359.

"Resistance is futile..." and thus we see the Saratoga as she
is destroyed in the battle at Wolf 359. Defensive actions
taken by the Saratoga prove useless as the ship is caught
in a tractor beam and slowly destroyed by the Borg. Shields
fail and explosions break out as critical damage to the wap
core results in the imminent loss of containment. Commander
Benjamin Sisko gives the order to abandon ship,and proceeds to
his cabin to get his wife Jennifer and son Jake onto an escape
shuttle. Arriving at the cabin, he finds Jake unconscious in the
wreckage; Jennifer is buried under a pile of debris. Jake is
carried by a passing crewman to an escape pod, and Sisko himself
has to be dragged off the ship. As the pod jetisons from the
Saratoga, the ship explodes, taking Sisko's wife with it.

STARDATE 46379.1 THREE YEARS LATER

Sisko finds his son Jake on the holodeck and tries to asure him
that their new posting on space station Deep Space Nine will be
bearable. They exit the holodeck, and catch their first glimpse
of the station through a port.

Once on board the station, Sisko is shown around by O'Brien. The
Cardassians have left the station in ruins; shops are burnt out
and looted, civilians are packing to leave, and there is no way to
defend the station. They pass a Bajoran priest, who tells Sisko that
the prophets await him. He declines, saying another time perhaps.
Arriving at their quarters, Jake proteststhe living conditions.
While he explores the quarters, O'Brien cautions against letting
Jake run around at that time. He also tells Sisko that Captain
Picard wants to see Sisko aboard the Enterprise.

O'Brien escorts Sisko to the command center, explaining that Major
Kira is using Sisko's office. Sisko enters the office after being
indirectly cautioned by O'Brien about Bajoran females. Kira sees
Sisko and wants to know if he is there to evict her, and Sisko
tries to avoid the barb by saying he was going to say hello first.
Kira cattily greets him, and explains that she views the Federation
as an occupying force no different from the Cardassians. Sisko
tries to refute her argument, but is interrupted by a security
alarm, and they rush to the scene of the disturbance.

A young Ferengi and his cohort are stealing ore samples from a
storefront. As they make their getaway, they are surrounded by
Odo and Kira. The cohort throws a flail at Odo, but it merely
passes through the shape-shifters' head and imbeds itself in the
far wall. Odo wrestles his attacker to a bulkhead, but Sisko
fires his phaser to cease their struggle. Odo is angered; his
no-weapons policy has just been violated by his new commander!
At this moment, a Ferengi merchant named Quark arrives to
collect his nephew, Nog, who he insists was only peripherally
involved in the crime. Sisko turns a deaf ear, and has the
youngster thrown in the brig. As Sisko departs, he tells Kira
to expect a plea bargain. O'Brien now calls Sisko for the second
time to remind him of his overdue meeting with Picard aboard the
Enterprise.

On the Enterprise, Sisko coldly meets with Picard. Picard is
shaken when he is reminded of his actions at Wolf 359, but he
continues with the briefing anyway. A recap of the situation is
given; Bajor is without resources, it cannot currently join the
Federation, and it is Sisko's duty to help the Bajor to become
ready to become Federation members in any way possible short of
breaking the Prime Directive. Trying to break the ice, Picard
comments on the change in assignment for Sisko, and how it must
have been welcome after three years in a shipyard. Sisko reminds
him that he is now a >single< parent, and the station is not the
best choice for raising a child. Sisko suggests that he is seeking
other civilian options back on Earth rather than serving on the
station, and when Picard questions his ability to perform his
duties, Sisko stiffly states he will perform his best and is
dismissed by Picard.

Back in the station's brig, Sisko tells Quark that he's not
going to leave. Quark protests, as does Odo, but Sisko insists
that it is necessary for there to be community leaders in order
for the station to survive, and Quark is going to be one. Quark
and Odo really protest at that statement, but Sisko reasons with
them, ultimately reminding Quark of what will happen to Nog if
he does not agree to stay. He leaves, and Odo remarks to Quark
that at first, he actually thought he wasn't going to like Sisko...

Sisko encounters Kira clearing out debris in an empty shop.
They talk about the fragile Bajoran government, and how only
the Bajoran religious leader known as Kai Opaka can unify the
people behind the government and insure stability for Bajor.
When he asks why the Kai hasn't done so before, Kira replies that
she is inaccessible, and does not involve herself in such
matters. At this point, the Bajoran priest reappears, telling
Sisko "Commander, it is time". Kira, in shock,  watches them
depart.

On the surface, Sisko is greeted by Kai Opaka, who proceeds to
explore his pa, or life force. Opaka explains to him that
Bajorans believe this pa to be replenished by the prophets.
Upon seeing in his pa that he is to be the emissary, she leads
him into a chamber hidden below a holographic fountain, where
she reveals an orb that is known as the Tear of The Prophet.
She tells Sisko that Bajor's biggest crisis is spiritual, not
political, and she cannot solve it for him; the solution must
come from within him. Suddenly, the Orb sweeps Sisko back to a
vision of his past, to the time when he first me his wife. He
walks and talks with Jennifer, but of course only he realizes
what is going on. Just as he asks her for a date, he is swept
back to the present. The Kai explains the history of the nine
Orbs that have appeared in the Bajoran skies over the past 10,000
years, and how the Cardassians have all but this one. She is
fearful the Cardassians will use the Orbs' powers to destroy
the Celestial Temple. Opaka then gives the final Orb to Sisko,
telling him the Orb will enable him to find the temple, which
he has always been destined to do.

Returning to the station, Sisko finds the Promenade to be open
again for business, thanks to his new community leader, Quark.
Sisko shares a drink with Quark, who admonishes him to avoid
the ale of a god fearing people, and Starfleet officers who have
your relatives in jail.

Later, as the Enterprise prepares to get underway, the last
officers arrive at the station. Kira and Sisko welcome Dr. Bashir
and Lt. Dax, and as Sisko leaves with Dax to catch up on old
times, Bashir asks Dax out for dinner, or maybe a d-d-d-drink.
Sisko later teases Dax about Bashir being so young, but Dax
downplays his concern, saying that Bashir not only is aware
that she is a Trill, but is fascinated by it. Sisko shrugs,
claiming Dax's new body will take some getting used to.
Meanwhile, Bashir and Kira arrive at the doctor's office,
which has been looted. As Bashir goes on about 'frontiers',
and practicing medicine in the wilderness, Kira interrupts
his romanticizing and reminds him that the natives are her
people, and that he will find the Bajor a simple, friendly
folk.

Sisko in the meantime is briefing Dax on the Orb. He leaves,
and Dax initiates a database query on the Orb and any
unexplained phenomena in Bajoran space. As the computer searches,
Dax is also swept away to a vision from her past; she experiences
the moment she is 'transplanted' from her dying male host to her
current, younger female host.

Back on the Enterprise, O'Brien makes his final visit to the
Bridge. Declining to see the captain, he makes his way to
Transporter Room 3, his favorite, where Picard catches up with
him. Picard relieves the ensign on duty, and after reminiscing
a bit with O'Brien, beams him to his new post on Deep Space Nine.

After the Enterprise departs, the Cardassians arrive. Gul Dukat,
former Prefect of Bajor, requests a meeting with Sisko. The
two men exchange veiled offers of friendship and wariness,
when Dukat abruptly asks Sisko about the final orb. Sisko
denies any knowledge of the Orb, and accepts Dukat's subsequent
request to have his men use the station.

Sisko then meets with Dax. She tells Sisko of a vision the
twenty-second Kai had once when stranded in the Denorius Belt,
a local celestial object of note. The Kai claimed that the
heavens opened up and nearly swallowed the ship. Furthermore,
five Orbs had been found inside the Belt, and there 23
navigation reports on record of severe neutrino disturbances
in the same area. Dax correlates the reports onto a grid, and
speculates that there lies the answer to their mystery. Sisko
agrees, and notes that they will have to find some way past
the Cardassians.

On the Promenade, Quark's operation is shut down. He protests
loudly, but in the end reluctantly closes down, giving the
Cardassians a bag in which to carry their winnings back to
their ship. The Cardassians return to their ship, stowing
the bag in a locker. Once they leave, the 'bag' transforms
itself into Odo, who proceeds to disable the Cardassians'
sensors and shields. Back at the station, Kira gives the order
to launch the runabout Rio Grande, which contains Dax and Sisko.
Detecting Odo at the beam-away point, she tells O'Brien to beam
him back. After failing a few times to get the transporter to
work, O'Brien gives it a kick in frustration, causing Odo to
materialize. After acknowledgements of a job well done, he
departs. The Rio Grande flies to its appointment with destiny.

END PART ONE

As the runabout approaches the grid perimeter, sensors pick
up high proton counts, and a course is set to new coordinates
where the count is highest. The wormhole suddenly opens, and
in they go. They lose contact with the space station, and
after a wild ride, emerge on the other side. A star fix is
obtained, revealing the closest start is Edron, in the Gamma
quadrant. Sisko realizes they have found a stable wormhole;
it must have been there for 10,000 years! They turn around
to head back, but once inside the wormhole they lose impulse
drive and are forced to 'land'. Sisko disembarks, and emerges
into a stormy, rock landscape. Dax follows, but instead sees a
sunny, idyllic countryside. After initial comments on the
landscape, Sisko realizes they are seeing different things,
but before he can tell Dax, an Orb appears and scans them.
Sisko introduces himself, but the Orb stuns them. It envelops
Dax and disappears, while Sisko is left behind while the
landscape slowly dissolves to a white, misty haze.

On the space station, a major neutrino disturbance is detected.
An object emerges from the Denorius Belt, which is beamed
aboard inside a Security One forcefield. Once materialized,
the object disappears, depositing Dax on the platform.

Sisko is getting his mental bearings. Images flash to mind;
he is being observed and analyzed by the lifeforms that live
inside the wormhole. A crude dialog is started, and Sisko says
it will take time for them to understand each other. The
lifeforms then reveal an ignorance of our concept of time...

Outside the wormhole, Kira prepares to launch a rescue mission.
Dax provides the information necessary for modifying the sensors,
and suggests that the wormhole is not natural. Meanwhile, the
Cardassians are detected as moving towards the location of the
wormhole. Kira orders the station to be moved to the mouth of
the wormhole before the Cardassians can get there, but O'Brien
objects, saying there is not enough power, nor can the station
take the strain. Dax suggests modifying the subspace field
output of the deflector generators just enough to lower the
inertial mass of the whole station. O'Brien gives in, and Dax
continues by noting it will take Starfleet 2 days to reach them.
While O'Brien readies the station for its journey, Kira and
the rescue party head for a runabout.

In the wormhole, the lifeforms propose destroying Sisko, claiming
he is a corporeal creature come to destroy them. Sisko denies
this, saying humans respect life, but does not know how to prove
it. Desparate, he invites them to examine his past experiences
and judge him based on them.

  ---to be cont'd
***************************************************************************
* Glen Colby                                                             *
* colby@enterprise.win.net                                                
* copyright 1993, Glen Colby          All rights reserved, of course.    *
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