Grathon Tolar Grathon Tolar was a skilled holographic forgery artist , con - man , and general degenerate in the temporary employ of Starfleet for the ultimate purposes of bringing the Romulan Star Empire into the Dominion War on the side of the Federation . He belonged to a blue - skinned humanoid species that had a fin - like structure running along the top of the head . In 2374 , Tolar was awaiting execution in a Klingon prison for unspecified crime s . It was at this time when Captain Benjamin Sisko , acting under the guidance of Elim Garak and with the support of Starfleet , contacted Chancellor Gowron to arrange a pardon . Garak selected Tolar for the task , and Tolar knew him . Under the terms of his parole , Tolar was to stay away from the Klingon Empire and create a holo - program for Sisko . Tolar was renowned for his skills in holographic forgery which Sisko wished to put to use to create a fraudulent recording of a high - level Dominion meeting in which the supposed plan for the invasion of Romulus was discussed . However , before Tolar could complete the recording for Sisko and Garak , he was involved in an altercation in Quark ' s with the proprietor and M ' Pella , one of Quark ' s Dabo girls . Consequently , this brought the attention of station security as well as the potential for reports and documentation exposing Tolar ' s presence on Deep Space 9 . Ultimately , Quark did not press charges against Tolar , after Captain Sisko negotiated a substantial bribe to him in exchange for his silence . Subsequently restricted to his quarters , Tolar finished the ersatz recording and proffered it to Sisko and Garak soon afterwards . After Captain Sisko tentatively accepted the recording , he rebuffed Tolar ' s attempt to excuse himself - - freedom was not to be his until his recording fooled the Romulan officials it needed to fool . Ultimately , Tolar ' s forgery failed to fool the Romulan senator Vreenak . After Vreenak left Deep Space 9 to expose the " vile deception " to the entire Alpha Quadrant , his shuttle exploded , killing Vreenak and his staff . An investigation by the Tal Shiar pointed to Dominion sabotage , and the recording was accepted as genuine , with the imperfections in the forgery being attributed to damage from the explosion . Known only to Sisko and Garak at the time , Garak had actually placed a bomb aboard Vreenak ' s shuttle , suspecting that Tolar might well not be up to the job they needed him to do . At some point , Garak also eliminated Tolar to ensure no other witnesses to the operation would remain . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Grathon Tolar was played by actor Howard Shangraw in his only " Star Trek " appearance . The script for " In the Pale Moonlight " states the pronunciation of Tolar ' s name is " GRAY - thun TOE - lar . " Additionally , it describes him as " " a small , weasel - faced ALIEN and does not look like someone who ' d last very long in a Klingon prison . His clothes are clean and neatly worn , but there ' s a palpable oiliness to him that makes you want to bath immediately after any visit . He has a low , nervous laugh that only serves to get under Sisko ' s skin . " " Apocrypha . Grathon Tolar is referenced in the Pocket DS9 novel " Hollow Men " , whereby Enderby of Starfleet Intelligence learns of Tolar ' s involvement in the Romulan plot , and his murder by Garak . Enderby and Jedburgh then blackmail Garak into attempting the assassination of Tomas Roeder by threatening to reveal his involvement . The novel also reveals that Captain Sisko later informs Admirals William Ross and Marta Batanides of the plot and Tolar ' s death .