Inquisition (episode)

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"Inquisition"
DS9, Episode 6x18
Production number: 40510-542
First aired: 8 April 1998
←  140th of 173 produced in DS9  →
←  140th of 173 released in DS9  →
←  513th of 911 released in all  →

An officer from Starfleet Department of Internal Affairs arrives at the station and accuses Dr. Bashir of being a Dominion spy.

Summary

Doctor Bashir is preparing to attend a medical conference at Casperia Prime as Odo teases him about the fact that such conferences are always held at sunny beachside resorts. As they talk, Chief O'Brien enters the Infirmary, having dislocated his shoulder kayaking in the holosuite yet again. Bashir fixes O'Brien's arm but warns him not to go kayaking for a while.

The next day, the computer awakens Bashir at 0700. He is extremely tired to the point where he has the computer confirm the time. Dragging himself out of bed, he packs to leave the station and bids farewell to his toy bear Kukalaka only to have Captain Sisko's voice come over the intercom, telling all senior officers to report to Ops. There Bashir finds that Deputy Director Sloan has arrived from Internal Affairs and is discussing something grim with Sisko. When Sloan and Sisko emerge from the Commander's office, they announce that the crew will be confined to quarters until Sloan can investigate reports of a traitor among the senior staff passing information to the Dominion.

Now in his quarters, Bashir orders breakfast from the replicator, but finds it out of order. The door chime rings, and one of Sloan's officers informs Bashir that Sloan wants to ask him some questions. However, things do not seem right as she escorts him to the wardroom; a pair of officers carrying phaser rifles run past them in the corridor, but Bashir is told not to worry about it.

Sloan comes across as surprisingly charming when he meets with Bashir, casually asking about Bashir's experiences with the Dominion. They go over Bashir's imprisonment and encounter with a group of rogue Jem'Hadar, among other things. Before long, Sloan dismisses Bashir and promises to get the doctor his breakfast, as the replicators were taken offline as a security precaution.

Upon returning to his quarters, Bashir begins to suspect that someone has been there since he left as Kukalaka is now on his side but had been stood upright that morning, and a piece of equipment Bashir had dropped earlier is now back in it's proper place. He receives a message from O'Brien, who says Sloan grilled the chief for over two hours -- and every question was about Bashir. Once the transmission cuts out, one of Sloan's deputies enters and escorts him back to the wardroom, where he is accused of being a Dominion spy.

In Sloan's version of events, the Dominion "broke" the doctor during his time in an internment camp. The allegation is that Bashir was coerced into spying for the Dominion but his memories are repressed; as such, even if Bashir is spying, he hypothetically would not know it. When Sloan realizes he will not get anywhere with an interrogation, he has the guards escort Bashir -- handcuffed -- across the Promenade for all to see.

Later, Sisko intervenes and uses his power as commanding officer of DS9 to restrict Sloan's power over Bashir, but by this time even Sisko has begun to wonder if Sloan is correct. He believes his friend and colleague is telling the truth; however, he is unsure what to believe and reminds Julian he's made some very poor judgment calls recently. Sloan meanwhile has invoked an order from Starfleet Command telling him to "neutralize threats" to security, and he plans to put Bashir in prison until the war is over. However, as he speaks, Bashir is transported off the station by a Dominion-style transporter beam.

Bashir now finds himself aboard a Dominion warship, where Weyoun tries to convince him that he is in fact a Dominion spy. According to the Vorta, Bashir has gone through the same debriefing process a number of times, and the fact that the doctor does not believe his story does not surprise him. But rather than believing himself to be a spy, Bashir comes to believe Sloan is in fact the traitor. His conversation with Weyoun is interrupted as the ship comes under attack and Bashir is beamed aboard the Defiant.

This time, the crew all believe Bashir is a spy, and he is at a loss for words for why he was beamed aboard the Cardassian ship. His story about Sloan only sounds even more incredulous. As Bashir turns to O'Brien for support, the chief pushes him away, but Bashir realizes something is amiss. The chief's shoulder was dislocated previously, which leads Bashir to realize that none of the people around him are who they say they are.

Suddenly, the Defiant's bridge disappears and Bashir finds himself in a holosuite aboard a Federation starship, surrounded by men in black uniforms. Among them is Sloan, who reveals that Bashir was beamed off of DS9 in his sleep so that no one would notice his absence. This explains a number of things, among them why Bashir was so tired at the start of his day. Sloan reveals that he is part of a covert organization known as Section 31, which he claims was part of the original Starfleet charter but answers to no one. Although Sloan tries to recruit the doctor into the organization, Bashir refuses. As a result, Section 31 agents sedate him.

When he returns to DS9, Bashir of course finds that there is no record of anyone called Director Sloan, but Sisko's investigation with Starfleet Headquarters on the matter turns up some odd results. Sisko receives neither confirmation nor denial of Section 31's existence, only promises to look into the matter. Whatever the true nature of Section 31 may be, it is clear that we have not heard the last of Sloan. Next time they meet, Bashir has to accept membership to bring the organization down from the inside.

Memorable Quotes

"Congratulations doctor, its not often that we're proven wrong."
"I take it you finally believe that I'm not working for the Dominion."
"I'm leaning heavily in that direction but to erase any lingering doubts, what do you say we make one final test?"
"I've finished playing games with you, Sloan!"
"I can assure you, Doctor, this is no game."

- Sloan and Bashir

"So... why don't you tell me who you are? Who you work for?"
"I think it's obvious. The same people you work for - the Federation... Starfleet."
"You don't expect me to believe you're with Internal Affairs, do you?"
"No, of course not. Internal Affairs is a competent department but limited."
"So which department are you with?"
"Let's just say I belong to another branch of Starfleet Intelligence. Our official designation is Section 31."
"Never heard of it."
"We keep a low profile. Works out better that way for all concerned."
"And what does Section 31 do - apart from kidnapping Starfleet officers?"
"We search out and identify potential dangers to the Federation."
"And once identified?"
"We deal with them."
"How?"
"Quietly."

- Sloan and Bashir

"You make it sound so ominous."
"Isn't it? Because if what you say to me is true, you function as judge, jury, and executioner, and I think that's too much power for anyone."
"I admit it takes exceptional people to do what we do - people who can sublimate their ambitions to the best interests of the Federation. People like you."
"Me?"
"You have all the qualifications to be a very useful member of Section 31."
"A few minutes ago, you were calling me a traitor. And now you want to recruit me!"
"Well, you're intelligent, resourceful. You've always been fascinated by covert operations. Why else would you spend so much time in Quark's holosuites playing spy?"
"You're serious."
"We're on the same team. We believe in the same principles that every other Federation citizen holds dear."
"And yet you violate those principles as a matter of course."
"In order to protect them."
"Well, I'm sorry but the ends don't always justify the means."

- Sloan and Bashir

"How many lives do you suppose you've saved in your medical career?"
"What has that got to do with anything?"
"Hundreds? Thousands? Do you suppose those people give a damn that you lied to get in Starfleet Medical? I doubt it. We deal with threats to the Federation that jeopardize its very survival. If you knew how many lives we've saved, I think you'd agree that the ends do justify the means. I'm not afraid of bending the rules every once in a while if the situation warrants it. And I don't think you are either. In time you will agree with me."
"You've got the wrong man, Sloan."
"I don't think so. In time, you'll come to agree with me."
"Don't hold your breath."
"All I ask is that when you get back to Deep Space 9, you consider what I've said."
"What if I decide to expose you."
"Let's just say I'm not going to lose any sleep over it."

- Sloan and Bashir

"I can't believe the Federation condones this kind of activity."
"Personally, I find it hard to believe they wouldn't. Every other great power has a unit like Section 31. The Romulans have the Tal'Shiar, the Cardassians had the Obsidian Order..."
"But what does that say about us? When push comes to shove, are we willing to sacrifice our principles in order to survive?"
"I wish I had an answer for you, Doctor."

- Bashir, Odo, and Sisko

Background Information

• This episode began life as a comic show about bureaucracy and paperwork, or, as Bradley Thompson puts it, "dealing with the Department of Motor Vehicles on a Sunday. Bashir went to a planet to do something really nice, like saving the lives of everyone on the whole planet. He parked his runabout in orbit, and when he finished doing this wonderful thing, he found out that he had been towed and he had a parking ticket! So he had to go up against the bureaucracy. It was the ultimate genetically engineered human against the ultimate bureaucratic red tape." Thompson and David Weddle had the idea to do the show as a humorous version of the 1925 Franz Kafka novel The Trial, but when they pitched it to Ira Steven Behr, he immediately reformulated it into an episode involving a covert organization within Starfleet who decide Bashir is a Dominion spy and interrogate him by means of an elaborate holodeck program. As Thompson says "it stopped being a romp and became a nightmare." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
• This episode marks the first appearance of Luther Sloan (William Sadler) on the series. It also introduces Section 31 to Star Trek. The idea for Section 31 was Ira Steven Behr's and was the culmination of his attempts to look into the darker aspects of the utopia created by Gene Roddenberry, to look under the surface of the idyllic Federation to see if everything was really as perfect as it appeared to be. He began this examination in the episode "The Maquis, Part II", with the line "It's easy to be a saint in paradise," and his investigation continued in episodes like "The Jem'Hadar" (where Quark points out that humans are far from perfect), "Past Tense, Part I"/"Past Tense, Part II" (where the hell that humanity went through to get to Roddenberry's utopia is examined), "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" (where those who protect paradise are shown as fanatical enough as to be willing to destroy it for it's own 'safety'), "For the Cause" (where Michael Eddington compares the Federation to the Borg) and "Doctor Bashir, I Presume" (where a less than successful 24th century human from Earth is introduced). Section 31 was the apotheosis of this process of examination, a covert organization within Starfleet who could be said to be the "weasels under the coffee table" to which Behr referred in relation to "The Maquis, Part II". As Behr explains, "Why is Earth a paradise in the twenty-fourth century? Well, maybe it's because there's someone watching over it and doing the nasty stuff that no one wants to talk about." The very idea that such an organization as Section 31 could exist within Starfleet would have been completely alien to Gene Roddenberry's original vision, and as such, Section 31 represents one of Deep Space Nine's most controversial ideas, something which proved extremely unpopular amongst many fans of both The Original Series and The Next Generation. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
• Sloan refers to the events of several previous episodes as evidence of Bashir's treachery:
  • "Hippocratic Oath" - where Bashir attempted to help a group of rogue Jem'Hadar beat their addiction to Ketracel white
  • "In Purgatory's Shadow" - where it is discovered that Bashir had been replaced by a Changeling some time ago
  • "By Inferno's Light" - Sloan suggests that the fact that Worf's runabout was left orbiting Internment Camp 371 meant that the Dominion perhaps allowed Bashir to escape.
  • "Statistical Probabilities" - where Bashir worked with a group of genetically enhanced savants and temporarily became convinced that the Federation can save billions of lives if it surrendered to the Dominion.
• Sloan was named after the Peter Breck character in the 1963 Samuel Fuller film Shock Corridor. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion).
• The producers originally considered casting Martin Sheen as Sloan, but they ultimately chose William Sadler. According to Ira Behr, "We needed someone who had real power as an actor, who could keep you from jumping to a final conclusion about his character." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
• Sloan is wearing a special rank insignia; 4 pips with an underline. It has been suggested that Sloan might have held the Starfleet Rank of Fleet Captain, and was merely introduced as "Deputy Director of Internal Affairs" and addressed as "Director Sloan".
• Of Sloan's leather outfit at the end of this episode, costume designer Robert Blackman explains, "Ira asked for dark, black, severe, hostile looking garments. Well, that's black leather!" (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
• As Dr. Bashir says, this isn't the first time Chief O'Brien has dislocated his shoulder while kayaking; he's done it twice before, in TNG: "Transfigurations" and DS9: "Shakaar".
• The medical conference to which Bashir is heading is on Casperia Prime, the same planet where Jadzia Dax wanted her honeymoon in the episode "Change of Heart".
• At the end of this episode, when discussing that Section 31 is similar to the Romulan Tal Shiar and the Cardassian Obsidian Order, Bashir asks Sisko, "But what would that say about us? That we're no different than our enemies? That when push comes to shove, we're willing to throw away our principles in order to survive?", to which Sisko replies, "I wish I had an answer for you." In the very next episode, Sisko would be forced to ask himself this same question, and he would also get his answer.
• The Star Trek: Voyager holodeck set is used as the Section 31 holodeck in this episode.
• Just before Bashir is put in the cell, his combadge is removed. However, in one scene on the Dominion ship just before Worf and Kira beam in, he is clearly still wearing the badge.
• Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko) does not appear in this episode.

Video and DVD releases

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 6.9, 7 September 1998.
• As part of the DS9 Season 6 DVD collection.

Video and DVD releases

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 6.9, 7 September 1998.
• As part of the DS9 Season 6 DVD collection.

Links and References

Guest Stars

• Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun (hologram)
• Samantha Mudd as Chandler
• Benjamin Brown as Kagan

Special Guest Star

• William Sadler as Sloan

Co-Star

• Judi Durand as the computer voice

Uncredited Co-Stars

• James Lee Stanley as a Bajoran security deputy

References

Casperia Prime; Defiant, USS; Department of Internal Affairs; Excelsior-class; scone; Section 31; Special Order 66715; Starfleet General Orders; red leaf tea

• 47 references

External links

• Template:NCwiki
• Inquisition (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) at Wikipedia

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 6

Next episode: "In the Pale Moonlight"