SCORE: (5/5 stars)

Bashir is going to be heading to Romulus for a conference (and DS9’s Romulan attaché, Senator Cretak, will be joining him). He’ll be there to talk about Dominion bioweapons, ketracel white, and the transfer of Federation hospital ships to Romulan control. Garak wonders if someone from Starfleet Intelligence will be joining them on this mission, but Bashir is appalled at the suggestion they violate the good will of their allies to spy on them. (As if the Romulans would have any compunction.)

Garak is not the only one with this thought, though. Bashir is woken in the middle of the night by a visit from Sloan, our favorite Section 31 agent. He wants Bashir to “take the pulse,” so to speak, of particular individuals in Romulan leadership. Bashir, of course, wants nothing to do with Section 31, but Sloan seems confident his curiosity will get the better of him and the only way he can glean more secrets from Section 31 is to play ball. Sisko agrees with Sloan’s assessment and wants Bashir to take the assignment. Admiral Ross will be going along as well so Bashir can coordinate with him and report his findings.

En route to Romulus, Senator Cretak uncorks some Romulan ale for Ross and Bashir; with their alliance in place, the trading embargo has been lifted and Romulan ale is now legal. Of course, that never stopped most Starfleet officers from trying it on occasion, but Admiral Ross never had, and can’t quite handle it. Bashir is surprised when Sloan himself makes an appearance in the mess hall, using an alias. Both he and Ross are unsure how Sloan managed to get assigned to the conference and Ross believes he may have another operative he’s collaborating with.

Sloan wants Bashir to get a better profile on Koval, Chairman of the Tal Shiar. Sloan believes Koval was behind the assassination of Admiral Fujisaki the previous year, considering Fujisaki was the head of Starfleet Intelligence and they don’t just up and die of food poisoning in the 24th century. Koval seems eager to meet Bashir (as much as his dour expression lets on) and wants to know specifics about the Quickening, the Dominion-engineered disease that Bashir created a prenatal vaccine for. He’s not interested in its treatment, however; more in how to engineer something like it himself. Pleasant fellow.

Of course, what Sloan really wants to know is whether Koval has Tuvan Syndrome, which Bashir is able to confirm as plausible as he’s showing all the signs of early stages. Of course, he won’t succumb to the illness for another 25 years on average… unless he was subjected to a burst of nadion radiation, which would rapidly accelerate its development. Sloan seems interested in Cretak being put in place as the head of the Tal Shiar. Bashir brings this information to Ross, who says he can’t disagree with Sloan’s interests as Koval would like nothing more than to plant the Romulan flag on Earth. He’ll confine Sloan to quarters to keep him from attempting assassination, but suggests that Sloan’s supposed accomplice might still be out there.

Bashir believes the accomplice might in fact be a Romulan, given the detailed information Sloan has had on the inner workings of the Romulan government, particularly knowing that data is kept in certain databases. When Admiral Ross suddenly suffers an aneurysm and is down for the count in sickbay, and with orders for radio silence still in effect, Bashir turns to the only person he can: Senator Cretak. She’s not at all happy learning about Section 31, but agrees to obtain a copy of Koval’s personal database as it may contain a list of suspected Romulan double-agents, which may point to the potential accomplice.

Bashir tries to delay Sloan by telling him his initial diagnosis was incorrect and he doesn’t believe Koval is suffering from Tuvan Syndrome after all. Sloan provides him with a microcellular adhesive so he can shake Koval’s hand and obtain a DNA sample to analyze. But as soon as Bashir meets Koval to shake his hand, he’s taken quickly to an interrogation room, and Koval demands to know what he’s really doing here and who he’s working with. They use a mental probing device but his genetic enhancements seem to bar it. Bashir says nothing.

He’s brought before the Continuing Committee as an accomplice of Senator Cretak, who is accused of unauthorized access to a Tal Shiar database. Bashir explains his story, including revealing the nature of Section 31, but Koval has his own witness. He brings out Sloan, who has been heavily tortured and confessed that there is no Section 31. He made it up in order to give Starfleet plausible deniability while he attempted to get revenge on Koval, believing he’s responsible for Fujisaki’s death. Cretak is charged with conspiracy to commit treason. Bashir is to be released back to Starfleet, and Sloan is to remain a captive of the Tal Shiar. When this is declared, Sloan grabs a weapon and tries to escape, but is vaporized.

On their way back to DS9, Admiral Ross has made a full recovery from the aneurysm, but Bashir knows something doesn’t add up, and demands to know where Sloan is. Ross finally caves, and explains that he was working with Sloan on this operation the whole time. Sloan did have an inside man; it was Koval. Cretak was in line to head the Tal Shiar, but her loyalties are fiercely to Romulus and she may very well have influenced the government to sign a treaty with the Dominion. Koval’s been a source for Starfleet Intelligence for over a year, and it serves their interests to keep him in place and deflect any suspicion of his treachery. Sloan was supposed to be beamed out just before being vaporized but Ross has no idea whether he actually made it out. Bashir was played the whole time. Ross is not a Section 31 operative, he makes sure to point out, but their interests aligned this time, so he played the game.

Back on DS9, Bashir is woken again by Sloan, who points out that it is the decent, honorable men like Bashir that are the reason Section 31 exists. They want to keep the decent, honorable people there, with their hands clean, as a shining example of the Federation. “Someone has to protect men like you from a universe that doesn’t share your sense of right and wrong.”

• At one point you can see a flyby shot of the Bellerophon that is clearly recycled from Voyager as you can see Voyager’s registry NCC-74656 on it.
• Intrepid-class starship mess halls are supposed to have a wall of replicators as seen in the Voyager pilot, but the Bellerophon has a galley just like the one Neelix set up on Voyager. (Obvious reason being they were filming on the Voyager set.)

• Garak: I see. I trust that Starfleet Intelligence will be sending someone along to make good use of this opportunity.
  Bashir: What do you mean?
  Garak: Isn’t it obvious? This is a golden opportunity to gather intelligence on Romulan intentions and military capabilities.
  Bashir: They’re our allies, Garak. And with any luck, this could be the beginning of a entirely new friendship between our peoples.
  Garak: The eternal optimist.