Civil Defense ( episode ) Sisko , Jake , and O ' Brien accidentally trigger an old Cardassian security system that believes the Occupation is still going on and the station has been taken in a Bajoran workers ' rebellion . Summary . Teaser . In one of the station ' s ore processing units , O ' Brien and Jake are deleting old Cardassian files from the computer s as part of an effort to convert the facility into a deuterium refinery . Commander Sisko comes in to check on them . In the course of their work , Jake asks for help with removing one of the old files , but when O ' Brien attempts to help he triggers a security program . Since O ' Brien lacks an appropriate Cardassian access code , the OPU is locked down and an alert about a worker revolt is transmitted to ops . . . much to the consternation of the Ops crew . In the OPU a recording of Gul Dukat appears on the display , warning the " workers " that they have eight minutes to end their " revolt . " Act One . While beginning their effort to escape the OPU Sisko hears from Kira on his combadge , and she tries to beam them out of the OPU without success . . . since she also lacks the needed access code . Odo then speaks up to the effect that he is also trying to get them out , but that it will take time . Just then Quark walks into the security office , and offers his help . Much to Odo ' s surprise , Quark reveals in response that he has access codes for clearances one level higher than Odo does – and offers to make an " arrangement " for giving Odo the added level of clearance . Annoyed , Odo asks Quark to leave , but since Quark feels that the Security office is the safest place on the station , he ' s determined to stay ( and annoy Odo just by being there ) . Still frustrated in their efforts to escape , Sisko announces to the computer that he is the leader of the " revolt " and that they surrender . With the reprieve they gain , they work out a stratagem by which Jake will climb up the ore chute and open a hatch to greater safety than they have in the main area of the OPU . Just then , another recording plays , announcing that the compartment will be filled with neurocine gas in three minutes if the all - clear is not sounded by station security forces . As the three minutes draws to a close , Jake is only then able to open the hatch , and the three of them climb above the gas . However , the computer detects this escape and initiates a counter - insurgency program which locks down ops and the security office , and dampens combadge signals . The Ops crew is now trapped in the Ops center , as are Quark and Odo in the latter ' s office . Act Two . Meanwhile Commander Sisko , O ' Brien , and Jake have discovered that their combadges don ' t work , and start trying to break out of an ore receiving area by using a cart as a battering ram against a hatch . They finally give up that approach and figure out a way to blow the hatch with raw uridium ore primed with electricity . In Ops , Dax is trying to regain control of the main computer when her hands are burn ed by an intrusion countermeasure . This countermeasure also escalates the counter - insurgency program " again " , an action which a new recording says will result in neurocine being pumped into the station ' s habitat ring , killing everyone there . Just then Garak steps into ops , having made his way through the station with his old but still - valid access codes . After Garak explains what he understands of the situation , the other senior staff decide to disable the station ' s life support system in order to forestall the release of the gas . Garak is emphatic that such a course of action is the only way to keep the Habitat Ring from being poisoned . Shutting down life support will cause the station to run out of oxygen in about twelve hours , but this is much more preferable than the less - than - five minutes they have before the gas is released . Major Kira overloads the life support console with her phaser . . . which escalates the counter - insurgency program once more . The recording that goes along with the event announces that in two hours the station will self - destruct , and the computer begins the countdown . Act Three . Since Dukat ( the former commander of the station ) is the only one who can shut down the self - destruct , Garak tries to impersonate Dukat ' s codes and hack into the computer . To prevent the computer from scanning Garak ' s DNA to confirm his identity , Dax devises a new plan to disable the security sensor s in Ops . However , before the plan can be put fully into action , an alarm is tripped and the counter - insurgency program escalates yet again – now to level four – which causes a maximum - intensity disruptor to appear in the Ops food replicator and start firing at high rates throughout ops . One redshirt is immediately annihilated . A few minutes later Dukat himself transports unannounced into Ops and explains that his ship received a distress call , saying that Terok Nor was in the grip of a Bajoran rebellion . While he blathers on , the disruptor continues to fire around him , since it is programmed only to fire at non - Cardassians , except when Dukat pauses it to request a cup of red leaf tea from the replicator . Kira , still taking cover , demands that he do something , and Dukat says , all in good time . . . provided that he receive something in return . During his diatribe , he baits Garak into an argument . He requests that Kira follow him into Sisko ' s ( formerly his ) office , shutting down the disruptor almost as an afterthought . In the office , he offers to shut down the counter - insurgency program , but only in exchange for being allowed to place a Cardassian garrison on the station . Kira immediately refuses those terms , but Dukat asks whether she ' s really willing to sacrifice the lives of all 2 , 000 people aboard the station . With thirty minutes left on the countdown , Dukat struts out of the office and prepares to transport back to his ship , leaving them to think it over and promising to return – say , when they have about five minutes left . However , as soon as Dukat signals his ship to beam him back , he trips a subroutine in the counter - insurgency program , left in case the commander of Terok Nor attempts to flee the station in the event of a revolt . A message from Dukat ' s former commanding officer informs him that all his access codes have been rescinded and the countdown can no longer be halted . After castigating Dukat for his " cowardice , " the computer tells him to " try to die like a Cardassian . " Dukat , twiddling his thumbs nervously , is , for once , lost for words . Act Four . Now that he is in the same boat as the rest of them , Dukat tries repeatedly to deactivate the self - destruct , only for the computer to refuse to accept his access codes . Garak starts to laugh , touching off a brief spat between them , before Kira silences them both and tells Dukat to explain the self - destruct process . Dukat says that once the countdown reaches zero , the computer will deactivate the main reactor ' s stabilizer s , triggering a catastrophic overload . Dax asks whether the reactor can be shut down before the countdown is completed ; Dukat theorizes that the reactor ' s laser fusion initiator could be manually disengaged – but only from inside the reactor room . Back in the ore receiving bay , Sisko and O ' Brien successfully blow the hatch which opens to the rest of the station . They try to make their way to ops , but find themselves blocked by force field s . In ops , a plan is worked out to overload the power supplied to the force fields , and it works , also resulting in the restoration of communications ( though the force field affecting the Security office turns out to be on a different power system which hasn ' t been overloaded ) . Kira immediately explains to Commander Sisko the need to disable the reactor ' s initiator . He orders the rest of the senior staff to begin evacuating the station while he , O ' Brien and Jake attempt to shut down the reactor . Act Five . Odo and Quark , still trapped in his office , finally hear Kira inform them communications are back and the force fields are down . Odo , however , finds his is still in place , and supposes the Cardassians didn ' t fully trust their security officer ( himself ) at the time , putting his force field on a different system . Quark , frustrated , attributes this to Odo ' s integrity , which will get them killed . With only six minutes left until the fusion reactor overloads , Commander Sisko and O ' Brien discover that the main corridor s leading to the reactor control junction are blocked by debris from the power overload , so they decide to direct the reactor ' s energy against the station ' s shields instead , and attempt to go through a burning maintenance conduit in order to reach a suitable control junction . Commander Sisko orders his son to stay behind in the main corridor . O ' Brien passes out , but Sisko makes it all the way to the control junction and starts to implement the plan he worked out with O ' Brien . While the commander is busy rearranging data rods Jake disobeys his father ' s orders in order to pull O ' Brien out of the maintenance corridor , which saves O ' Brien ' s life . Sisko gets the last of the data rods replaced at the last instant . On the Promenade , the doors to Odo ' s office finally open , and he looks back to see Quark browsing through the files at his desk . Among these files , Quark is outraged to find a list of Ferengi Odo considers more devious than Quark , including Rom . Memorable quotes . " " Well . If you ' d like a level seven , I ' m sure we can make some kind of arrangement . " " " " Leave me alone , Quark . " " " " You know , I never knew how much this man ' s voice annoyed me . " " " " You have five seconds to enter correct access code . " " " " Or what ? " " " " I don ' t know , but I better stop it ! " " " " You know , I ' ve been here nearly three years and I was just finally starting to think of this place as home . " " " " Your home was built by Cardassians , doctor . Don ' t ever forget that . " " " " Well , there ' s not much chance of that , is there ? " " " " Ironic , isn ' t it ? The only place in the galaxy that still recognizes my access code is a Bajoran space station . " " " " I should ' ve listened to my father . He always warned me this was going to happen . " " " " What , that you ' d spend your final hours in jail ? I could ' ve told you that . " " " " Quark , I ' ve met a lot of Ferengis in my time , and the truth is , while some of them have been more wealthy , I ' ve never met one more devious . " " " " Really ? " " " " Would I lie ? " " " " I guess not . Thank you , Odo . That means a lot to me . Now , can I have the phaser back ? " " " " No . " " " " Why go to so much trouble to keep people out of the security office ? " " " " It ' s not to keep people out , it ' s to keep me in . I suppose , during the Occupation , the Cardassians considered their security chief a security risk . " " " " And I know why . " " " " Oh , do you ? " " " " It ' s because they knew you were an honorable man . The kind of person who would do the right thing regardless of the circumstances . And now your integrity . . . is going to get us both killed . I hope you ' re happy . " " " " Where ' s Commander Sisko ? I trust he wasn ' t vaporized , while asking for one of those raktajinos he ' s so fond of ? " " " " Garak , groveling in a corner . That alone makes my trip worthwhile . " " " ( signals his ship ) " Dukat , one to transport . Energize . . . " ( nothing happens ) " Energize ! " " " " Dukat , if you are seeing this recording , it means you tried to abandon your post while the station ' s self - destruct sequence was engaged . That will " not " be permitted . " " " " This is outrageous ! " " " " You have lost control of Terok Nor , disgracing yourself and Cardassia . Your attempt to escape is no doubt a final act of cowardice . All fail - safes have been eliminated , your personal access codes have been rescinded . The destruct sequence can no longer be halted . All you can do now is contemplate the depth of your disgrace . . . and try to die like a Cardassian . " " " " I thought your father told you to stay out of there ! " " " " If you don ' t tell him , I won ' t . " " Links and references . References . access code ; Bajor ; Bajoran s ; ; burn ; Cardassia ; Cardassian s ; Celsius ; con artist ; control junction ; counter - insurgency program ; DaiMon ; dampening field ; ; Demilitarized Zone ; deuterium ; DNA ; Dukat ' s father ; Federation ; Ferengi ; Frin ; fusion reactor ; ; Gaila ' s moon ; garrison ; Grand Nagus ; habitat ring ; infirmary ; interrogative subroutine ; Keldar ; landing pad ; laser fusion initiator ; latinum ; main fusion reactor ; maintenance conduit ; medkit ; meter ; Milky Way Galaxy ; neurocine gas ; neutralization emitter ; Occupation of Bajor ; operations center ; paranoia ; patriotism ; plasma conduit ; plasma fire ; power supply grid ; Promenade ; Quark ' s ; racquetball ; " raktajino " ; reaction stabilizer ; red leaf tea ; replicator ; riot ; runabout ; security clearance ; self - destruct ; short - sightedness ; stirrup ; suffocation ; ton ; Tye ; uncle ; uridium ; Zek