It ' s Only a Paper Moon ( episode ) After being disabled on AR - 558 , Nog returns to Deep Space 9 , but finds he cannot go on living his uncertain life and seeks shelter within the fictional world of Vic Fontaine and Las Vegas , 1962 . Summary . Teaser . After losing his leg at AR - 558 , Nog returns home to Deep Space 9 to a hero ' s welcome . He has undergone extensive medical treatment counseling at Starbase 235 . Although his leg has been replaced , Nog has been placed on indefinite medical leave by Starfleet . Captain Sisko informs him they ' re due to have a welcome home party for him later in the wardroom , but Nog tells everyone he ' s tired and would rather rest . It ' s clear he is not enthusiastic about seeing everyone again . Act One . During counseling sessions with Dax , Nog is caught up on events on the station , but he doesn ' t seem interested . Nog finds the counseling sessions pointless . He uses a cane , and complains of pain , even though a tricorder scan does not show any nerves firing , leading doctors to conclude it ' s psychological . Nog , in his state , finds this ridiculous and takes out his frustration on Dax ; the pain is real , he ' s not making it up . Mentioning the extensive counseling sessions he ' s had back at starbase , he asks just to be left alone , and so Dax agrees and calls it a day . Later , Sisko notices Nog ' s lack of participation in physical therapy , but Dax suggests giving him some time since sometimes a patient can make the next move for you . The only solace for Nog is in the recording that Doctor Bashir played during his time in triage on AR - 558 , " I ' ll Be Seeing You " . He now plays it constantly , enough to drive Jake Sisko crazy . Jake is frustrated that Nog hasn ' t engaged him at all since he got back , but Nog simply responds that he has nothing to say . Sick of listening to the same song constantly , he insists that Nog use a holosuite . Nog does so , and , on the way , he has a sudden flashback on the death of Larkin and getting shot in his leg . In Vic ' s lounge , he has Vic Fontaine sing the fifteen versions he knows of " I ' ll Be Seeing You " . He heard about Nog ' s leg and asks about it casually . He offers to sing more , but Nog wants to sleep . He turns to leave , but can ' t face his real life . In fact , he asks Vic to live with him , as the terms of his medical leave state he can choose to recuperate wherever he wishes . Vic agrees . Act Two . The crew gathers together to discuss the situation with Nog living in a holosuite . Dax points out that this could be a good thing since Nog ' s counseling wasn ' t progressing , and Bashir agrees . They decide that someone needs to talk to Vic about Nog ' s emotional and physical condition and Dax volunteers . When she goes to talk to Vic , Vic explains he has a trick or two up his sleeve to let him heal . In Vic ' s suite , Nog is watching " Shane " . To give him something to do , Vic complains about his inability to do his accounting , and how his books are a mess . Nog doesn ' t take the bait and offers to have the computer put some money in his books instead . Vic declines and says that he needs to go do a performance . As he ' s about to leave , he asks Nog if he is going to come along . Nog says he will , and in return , Vic gives him a lion ' s head cane that has a lighter built in , a replica of a cane that Errol Flynn once had . Vic says the cane is fragile and asks Nog not to put his full weight on it . At the show , Jake takes his friend Kesha on a date into the holosuite for Vic ' s performance . Nog is moody , however , and when the subject of his heroism comes up , Nog becomes irritated . While Jake ' s getting drinks , Nog is condescending to Kesha . When Jake asks Nog what ' s wrong , the Ferengi becomes angry and starts a fight by throwing the table onto Jake . Vic has to kick Nog back to their room . Act Three . When Vic returns to the suite , he finds Nog watching a movie . He forbids Nog to come back to the show , but Nog promises it ' ll never happen again . He briefly says he doesn ' t know what got into him . Vic leaves it and complains about his books again . This time , Nog helps him out so Vic can get some sleep . Later , Dax comes to the holosuite to see how Nog is doing . She finds Vic first , and , when she tries to convince Vic to persuade Nog to leave the holosuite , Vic refuses , citing Starfleet regulations . Nog soon turns up and tells Dax that if she tries to force him to leave he ' ll resign his Starfleet commission . He quickly changes the subject , informing Vic that he has enough money to build a new casino . Dax is forced to give up and leaves Nog to it , as he soon finds solace in using his Ferengi business instincts to help make Vic ' s bar a success . Act Four . Nog and Vic spend a lot of time together including drawing up plans for the casino , watching movies , wooing women at the bar , and reading the newspaper . Dax discretely shows up at the bar and sees Nog meeting and greeting customers . Surprisingly , he ' s walking around holding , but not using , his cane . Leeta and Rom show up to the bar and Nog personally seats them at a table . He ' s now back to normal , greeting them and excited to see them . Nog learns that Rom has been promoted to Maintenance Engineer , First Class and offers to throw a party , only to be informed that there already was a party thrown by Chief O ' Brien the previous evening , making Nog realize what he ' s missing on the outside . Nog shrugs it off , saying he had business to take care of and leaves when a high - roller enters . Meanwhile , Dax and Vic talk about Nog ' s progress again , and Dax compliments Vic ' s treatment . She thinks Nog should return to the real world , and convinces Vic the same thing by tricking him into realizing he is just using Nog if he lets him stay . That night , Vic tries to talk Nog out , but when he won ' t go Vic shuts down his program to force Nog to face the real world again . Act Five . Nog tries to force the computer to run the program , but to no avail . Chief O ' Brien arrives to investigate after noticing that the holosuite systems were being tampered with and tells him that if Vic doesn ' t want to appear , he won ' t . Miles then leaves , telling Nog everyone misses him in Ops . Soon after , Vic causes himself to reappear , and Nog realized what he was probably holding back from all the counseling sessions . He tells Vic that when the war began , although he wasn ' t happy about it he was eager for the chance to prove himself to be a good officer and soldier . Although he saw a lot of combat and witnessed many people being wounded or killed , Nog thought he was going to be okay . Then he got injured at AR - 558 , and now the Ferengi is suffering from an overwhelming fear of his mortality caused by losing his leg . It was this , apparently , that he couldn ' t tell the counselors . Vic talks him out of it , telling him that if he remains in the holosuite then he will die , but it won ' t be all at once . He ' ll disappear a little bit at a time until he ' s as hollow as as hologram . Vic reminds Nog that everyone takes chances , and sometimes they win or sometimes they lose ; what ' s important is that they ' re " in the game " . Nog finally understands that now is the time to leave the holosuite and Vic ' s world behind and he walks out leaving his cane . When Nog comes downstairs , he runs into Leeta , Rom , and Quark and promises them he ' s going to be all right , in time . Soon after , Nog , back in his Starfleet uniform , visits Vic to tell him he ' s returned to limited duty . He thanks Vic for his help with good news : Quark will keep Vic ' s program running 26 / 7 , effectively giving Vic a life of his own . Vic celebrates by singing and performing with a renewed vigor . Memorable quotes . " " At first , it struck me as a little . . . peculiar . But after I thought it over , I began to think that maybe this is a good sign after all . " " " " How can hiding in one of Julian ' s adolescent programs be a good sign ? " " " " Hey . . . " " " " It could be worse . He could be hiding in the Alamo program . " " " " Or that ridiculous secret agent program . " " ( amused ) " " Hey . . . " " " " Or that stupid Viking program . " " ( outraged ) " " Hey ! " " " " He ' s a one legged crazy man ! " " " " And who ' s going to pay for all this holosuite time ? ( everyone looks at Quark ) I guess I am . " " " " And it ' s very generous of you . " " " " She called you a hero , and for that you slugged your best friend ? Remind me never to give you a compliment . " " " ( About " Shane " movie ) " I like " The Searchers " better ! " " " " Yeah , who doesn ' t ? " " " " Is there anything I can do ? " " " " You know anything about bookkeeping ? " " " " I ' m a Ferengi , it ' s in our blood . " " " " Be my guest . " " ( hands Nog the account books ) " " Where ' s your computer ? " " " " Right here . " " ( holds up a pencil ) ( Nog gives him a look ) " " It ' s 1962 , what do you want from me ? " " " " You all right ? " " " " Yeah , I ' m fine . " " " " And you , take a hike . " " " " What ? ! " " " " You heard me . You don ' t come into my club and start hitting customers like that . Now get out before I throw you out . " " " " Vic ' s matrix is a little different than your standard photokinetic hologram . He can turn himself off and if he doesn ' t want to appear he doesn ' t appear . " " " " You mean he has free will ? " " " " I ' m an engineer , not a philosopher ! " " " " When the war began . . . I wasn ' t happy or anything , but I was eager . I wanted to test myself . I wanted to prove I had what it took to be a soldier and I saw a lot of combat . I saw a lot of people get hurt . I saw a lot of people die . But I didn ' t think anything was going to happen to me . And then , suddenly Dr . Bashir is telling me he has to cut my leg off . I couldn ' t believe it . I still can ' t believe it . If I could get shot , if I could lose my leg , anything can happen to me , Vic . I could die tomorrow . I don ' t know if I ' m ready to face that . If I stay here , at least I know what the future is going to be like . " " " " You stay here , you ' re going to die . Not all at once , but little by little . Eventually , you ' ll become as hollow as I am . " " " " Look kid , I don ' t know what ' s going to happen to you out there . All I can tell you is that you ' ve got to play the cards life deals you . Sometimes you win , sometimes you lose , but at least you ' re in the game . " " " " Are you okay ? " " " No , but I will be . " " Links and references . References . accountant ; Alamo ; AR - 558 ; arrangement ; " Bashir 62 " ; Barnum and Bailey ; Battle of Clontarf ; Benbasset ; biosynthetic limb ; Cal - Neva Lodge ; cane ; cash register ; Charley ; Clontarf ; cigarette ; coonskin cap ; counselor ; craps ; ; ; ; Dino ( aka Dean Martin ) ; Earth ; Ferengi ; ; forgery ; Grand Nagus ' staff ; Hoffarth ; holosuite ; holosuite transilluminator ; hotel ; " I ' ll Be Seeing You " ; " I ' ve Got the World on a String " ; isolinear rod ; " It ' s Only a Paper Moon " ; " Julian Bashir , Secret Agent " ; " Just in Time " ; ; Lake Tahoe ; Las Vegas ; " Las Vegas Register " ; latinum ; magnetic flux ; Makara fizz ; martini ; medical leave ; " Moon River " ; movie ; newspaper ; " Noggles " ; olive ; ; pencil ; phone number ; photokinetic hologram ; physical therapy ; plasma conduit ; popcorn ; ; Promenade ; publicist ; Quark ' s ; raccoon ; receipt ; replica ; replicator ; Rockefeller family ; ' ; " Shane " ; Shane ; ; slot machine s ; smoking ; snare drum ; Starbase 235 ; Starfleet General Orders and Regulations ; stepmother ; television ; transilluminator circuit ; tricorder ; Uncle Sam ; ' ; Viking s ; weaning ; western ; Yankee